time is short

Hi Guys
Well, Im sure you have all heard the latest headlines in the news...if not, this is whats happening. Just before 9am in Central London yesterday morning 3 bombs exploded in 3 seperate trains in an underground tunnel and another one above ground in a double decker bus. All of this has coincided with the decision on Wednesday to hold the 2012 Olympics in London and also the G8 Summit meeting which was set to start yesterday. It has now been confirmed that an Al Queda terrorist group in London have claimed responsibility for the attacks.
I received a call from my dad last night telling me to switch the news on and I was horrified and saddened at what was unfolding before me. My first thought was for my Pastors, Graham and Dawn, who are here on exchange from London and have family and friends there. They have since told me that they have had word that their family is ok...however, they still dont know if there are any friends or fellow Officers who have been affected by the blast. I thought of Graham and Dawn and thought of how awful it must feel to be here in Australia feeling so helpless. Not even 24 hours before the blast they sat on their lounge at home watching celebrations taking place after the announcement of the 2012 Olympics and having their own quiet moment of celebrations together with their son Timothy. Less than 24 hours later they sat in horror and disbelief as they watched their country being attacked and watched as the death toll rose and hundreds more were found injured. So far from what I saw on the news this morning the death toll was at 38 and those injured were 700. That toll is expected to rise dramatically.
After I got over my initial feeling of shock and disbelief, I felt, more than anything, completely saddened by this tragedy. We live in a country where we have been fortunate not to have been attacked yet, but in the last few years we have watched countries being attacked by terrorists and we have watched countries go to war with each other. We have seen thousands upon thousands of people who have lost their lives in these tragedies and we have seen thousands upon thousands of people who have been injured and in one moment their lives have been completely changed. Everything they know has been called into question. In one moment they lost everything! I think that's what saddens me the most. In one moment there have been thousands, even millions, maybe billions of people who have been effected by these disasters and they believe they have lost EVERYTHING!! I thought about how I would feel if this happened to me. If it happened here in Australia.
Not too long ago I was doing an Auslife seminar on Goals and Values with a grade 9 group. During the lunch break a few of us sat around talking. We had never met before. We were all volunteers. We started to talk about blessings. We talked about how people in places like Africa who know Jesus have such beautiful faith because they have no choice. They have so little and therefore they need to rely on God. They live by faith alone and God does amazing things! One lady disagreed with us, much to our surprise. She said that she thought that they weren't truly blessed or complete because they didn't have the material blessings. We were all a little shocked to be honest, but it made me realise that there are people out there who believe this, Christian or not. They believe that to be truly blessed means having material blessings. I told this lady that I believed that if I walked out the door today and lost everything I ever knew, I still believe that I would be a COMPLETE and BLESSED person because all I really need in life is God. He knows the things I need and He won't let me go without those things, but at the end of the day, if you stripped away everything else I want to be able to say that I still had God there when everything else was gone. I want to be able to say that God is so strongly at number one in my life that you could strip everything else away and still find a WHOLE person who is truly blessed because she has God in her life.
As I watched the events in London unfold last night I thought to myself how sad it was that so many people might perish who didnt yet know Jesus. People who didnt know this feeling of completeness. I thought of even the attackers. I thought how sad it was that somewhere in their life they got so completely messed up that they had such a burning desire to reap destruction and havoc on this world. It made me realise how short our time here really is. I think that sometimes we get this mind set that we are indestructable. We are invincible. Guess what? We're not!! We dont know the day or the hour that Christ will return. We know that in the end times there will be wars and such. Look around you at the mess the world is in right now. Are you hearing alarm bells? Well, Im not alarmed that Jesus is going to return soon. I cant wait for that day!! Isnt that what we live for?? But what does alarm me is that there are still millions and millions of people out there who havent truly heard about Jesus!! There are people out there who havent truly discovered what life with Jesus is all about. Maybe some of you who are reading this email are amongst those!
What I want to say to all of you, and I speak to myself here too because I felt God challenge me so deeply on this last night, is TIME IS SHORT!! We see this stuff on TV and think how terrible it is but think it will never happen to us. You cant guarantee that!! Because one day JESUS WILL RETURN!! What will you say to Him? The only thing He is going to want to know is WHAT DID YOU DO WITH JESUS? Did you accept Him? Did you give your life to Him? Did you share Him? Did you fight for Him? Did you love others and show them the love of Jesus? Did you take Him to the lost? Did you SAVE SOULS, GROW SAINTS AND SERVE SUFFERING HUMANITY?? People, hear this: TIME IS SHORT!! You do not know the day or the hour that He will return. In Luke 12:40 Jesus says, "You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." Have you shared Jesus with someone today? Have you accepted Jesus today? Are you ready for the day of His return? The door is ALWAYS open...you just need to walk through it...dont wait...you dont know how long you've got!! ACT NOW!
DREAM BIG!! WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!! MATT 19:26
Your sister in Christ