Do You Believe?

As seen in the HEARTbeat and the Village Voice

“Do You Believe?”

            We believe in a lot of things.  We believe the bed will hold us up all night when we lie down.  We believe the car will start the next morning when we hit the start button.  We even believe a bridge will hold the weight of all the cars on it, even if traffic is backed up and the bridge is filled with cars, trucks and semi’s.  We take a lot of things for granted, don’t we?

            The above example of a bridge holding the weight of vehicles will never be taken for granted by the occupants of eight vehicles and three tractor-trailer rigs.  On May 26, 2002, a barge navigating the Arkansas River struck the supports of the I-40 bridge at Webber Falls, Oklahoma.  Some cars fell immediately into the river.  There were however reports of cars driving off the still standing portion of the bridge into the river below.  Luckily, there was a fishing tournament being held in the area and several boats sped to the scene to help those who were able to get out of their vehicles.  Several people died because of this bridge collapse.

            You will never drive over an arching bridge the same way again after reading this.  Even though you may not have experienced it, the terror can be imagined in your mind’s eye.  What if I told you this catastrophe will be multiplied thousands of times around the world.  Imagine airplanes falling from the sky.  Imagine buses full of travelers will careen off the road and over a cliff.  Imagine massive multi-car accidents on the highways and interstates.  Each of these incidents will cost millions of lives.  And as a past statistician, I can tell you with a one hundred percent probability, it will happen.

            What am I describing?  I’m describing what the world will look like seconds after the church, God’s people, are raptured into the heavens.  How can I be sure of this?  Scripture tells us that Jesus rose from the grave.  Some doubted and tried to play it off as folly.  “People don’t just rise from the grave,” they must have thought.  Jesus appeared to Mary Magdelene and the other Mary first.  He appeared to two travelers on the road to Emmaus.  He appeared to the ten apostles in the upper room that same evening, and a week later to the eleven.  Jesus appeared to over four hundred people over the next forty days and performed many miracles.  He ate, He slept, He laughed, and enjoyed the company of the apostles and the disciples following Him.  On the fortieth day, He charged His apostles to carry on with His teachings and then He was carried up into the heavens.  At that moment, two angels appeared and said, “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

            Believe that Jesus is coming back again.  This is fact and is more reliable than any bridge anywhere.  Don’t trust completely in any bridge.  Trust completely in the Christ that died for you!