intersection of the unexpected

"For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord."

1Thessalonians 4:16-17

I love this verse. It reminds me of the prize. The ending. It serves as a reminder that we were not created for this world. It should be no surprise that we do not fit in. Sure, we have friends, family and joyous times, but ultimately this world is harsh. Sad. And a lot of people are just plain unhappy. I've been there. I know people who are there right now.

Seasons of pain or unhappiness are never planned. I venture to say that no one wakes up in the morning praying that things will NOT go their way. No one I know prays for the accident to happen or the cancer to come back. No one goes to work each day in hopes that it is their last. But, nevertheless, it happens.

The unexpected.

The question is, how do we deal with it when it comes? Jesus told us in His Word to, "Cast all our cares upon Him..." Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong. It's not easy at all. We want to handle things on our own strength. On our own time table. I know I do. Problem is, we were not meant to. Before Eve took a bite of the apple, our only job on this earth was to worship God. That hasn't changed. The only thing that did change was that sin came into the world. And boy did it mess things up!!

There is a reason Jesus woke up early in the morning to pray and spend time with His Father. All of us WILL find ourselves at the intersection of the unexpected. Could it be that when we are in constant communication with Him, it makes the drive a little less dreadful. Makes sense to me.

I enjoy traveling a lot more when I have someone to share the drive with.

Lord, help me to meet with you each morning before getting into my "car." It's been proven that I am a terrible driver. I need your help. Thank you for your Son and your Spirit. Amen.