I ordered a new iphone 5 for my daughter who’s at college, and is about to turn 18. I’ve been waiting to receive it, and a few days ago, I got a notice on my door from UPS that they had tried to deliver it, and would be back the next day between 2:00-5:00 p.m. I planned to make sure I was home during that time, and went in the morning to do some errands. I arrived home about 12:30 p.m. only to find another notice on the door that the UPS guy had been by again. You’re kidding me! I thought. He’d come by early. The new notice said he’d be by the next day between 10:30-2:30. OK, I thought. I’ll be here. I’ll be ready.
That was yesterday. I was preparing the house for a visitor who’s arriving today for the weekend, so I was upstairs cleaning. All morning I’d kept my ears pricked, listening for the sound of the doorbell. I even put off vacuuming, afraid he’d come and I wouldn’t hear him. As I was cleaning the bathtub in the guest bathroom, I hastily turned on the faucet and rinsed out the tub, knowing it was loud enough to make me miss the UPS guy. It took all of maybe 30 seconds; a minute at the most. When I turned off the faucet, I heard the sound of a truck. I ran to the window, and there was the UPS guy heading out of my cul-de-sac. Nooooooooooooo!!! I yelled and ran down the stairs and outside. He was already turning out of our street. I ran, grabbed my purse and shoes, determined to run him down in my car. I dashed into the garage and pushed the garage door opener, and with the excruciating slowness of a sloth, it lumbered upward. Finally, I screeched out of my driveway and around the corner, trying to guess which way he headed.
I sped up and down a number of nearby residential streets, all to no avail. There was no UPS truck to be found. I drove back home so frustrated that tears sprang to my eyes. On top of that, when I got home and really read the notice, I realized that I could have merely signed the back of the notice and he would have left it on the front porch. Arrrggggghhhhh! So today I have to drive 11 miles to the UPS Customer Service Center to pick up the phone.
The scenario reminds me of this verse:
For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. (1 Thessalonians 5:2)
If we are living our lives for Jesus, we don’t have to worry about missing Him when He comes. We can relax and know that He will take us, no matter what we’re doing or where we are. But if we are living a carnal lifestyle, thinking that eventually we’ll get it together and live for Jesus, our timing could be dead wrong. And once He’s come and gone, and pulled out of the cul-de-sac so to speak, He’s gone. We can run after Him with everything we’ve got, but unlike the UPS man, He won’t give us three chances. And there will be nothing, absolutely nothing as desolate as the realization that we missed our one opportunity to be with Him.
Just like the fact that I could have signed the notice authorizing the UPS guy to leave the package, ask Jesus to come into your heart today. Today. Be ready with the knowledge that you have given your life to Him, and He knows you are His. Then your salvation is secure, and your life will never be the same–in the most wonderful way possible.
And if you have friends who don’t know Jesus, or who are thinking that eventually they’ll get to know Him, please forward this to them. Tell them you don’t want them to be left empty-handed when Jesus comes to call. Eternity without Him is beyond desolate. It’s hell.
