Did you know that you are the so-called captain of your own ship?  Sometimes I feel like I’m driving mine straight into the ground.  How about you, do you have times like this, too?

Well, it’s like this.  Last week my husband was gone all week on a business trip.  Usually it’s not a huge deal for me to sleep. But this week, it was torture.  I’d go to bed at like 11 pm, kinda normal time.  But I’d be awake still at like 1:30 am, staring at the ceiling. Each. And. Every. Night! And then I’d wake up at 6am and go get my phone because I just knew my honey was going to call and I didn’t want to miss it! I was so exhausted… but more about that in a bit.

Believe it or not, this coincides with a parable in the Bible.   Matthew 25:1-13 is the parable of the ten virgins.  It’s like this.  They are all waiting for the Bridegroom (Jesus) to return.  All they have to do is keep oil in their lamps so when He comes they can see to go out to meet Him.  But some run out of oil and are at the store getting more when He shows up.  And some of them have fallen asleep and don’t wake up so they miss Him as well. So the ones who were prepared go into the banquet feast with the Bridegroom.  And the others, who came later with enough oil, were turned away at the door.

¹¹ “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’ ¹² “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’ ¹³ “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. Matthew 25:11-13

Obviously this is a story about us today, waiting for Jesus, the Bridegroom, to come and take us to the banquet.

In today’s world, with the cultural events being crazy, with the beginning of the persecution of the American church, with signs of the times being what they are, you and I can’t afford to run out of oil in your lamp.  We have to be prepared and ready when He is ready for us.

How do we do this?  Don’t give up on His return!  Jesus is coming back and it’s going to be SOON!  So, pretend it’s in the next moment of time!  Pray like there’s no tomorrow, read your Bibles like you can’t get enough and be prepared to tell others so they can come, too.

You know, one of the people who spoke a word to me from God told me to write to I “can bring many others with” me.  There’s nothing I want more in all the world than to see other people joining me in heaven.  No greater longing in my heart than that very thing.  How about you?

As for me being more than exhausted… my husband came back on Friday.  So finally, yes, finally that night I slept like a baby.  He was back, you see.  And the next morning we had to get up a little bit early to go somewhere for the day.  The alarm barely woke me up!  And do you know, we left, I got to my sister-in-law’s house and looked down at my feet.  Here’s what I saw…

I can’t believe my husband let me go out like that!  (Ya, we’ll blame this one on him!)