PREPARE FOR WHAT'S COMING

Have you ever had anything happen to you that you were totally unprepared for? Have you ever seen or heard of something happening to someone else and thought it could happen to you. Unfortunately, many people see something happening to someone else and think it could never happen to them. Well, not me. My grandmother was always thinking about what could happen if you do this and what could happen if you do that and I guess she passed that on down to me. Some people call it worrying but I call it being prepared. I think it’s reckless and irresponsible to begin anything without considering the possible negative outcome. We should never just jump into anything without thinking it out first. We always need to be safety-minded.

Remember my little blue Geo Metro? Well, I have another tale to tell you about it. One day I was going to check all the fluids as I always did once a week. That’s the life of your vehicle. When I pulled the hood release, I felt the cable break and the hood did not unlatch. I finally got it open but it wouldn’t latch back. The safety latch was working but I didn’t trust that enough to drive down the road. I had heard of several people having wrecks from car hoods fly up while going down the road so I put a bungee cord on it to keep the wind from blowing up under the hood.

I thought about what I would do if the hood were to blow up and block my view while driving down the road. I actually pictured it in my mind and planned out a strategy in case it ever happened to me. My plan was to put my head out the window and calmly apply the brakes and slowly and safely get the car off the road without having a wreck.

Then one morning, I was on my way to work, minding my own business, when my windshield suddenly turned blue and shattered. There was no warning like I thought there would be. I didn’t even have time to think about it. It was just there. I immediately put my well-thought-out plan into action. I put my head out the window so I could see the road and began applying the breaks and soon I was safely off the road. Thank God I had thought about what COULD happen before it did. Thank God I was prepared. If not, who knows what might have happened?

Throughout the New Testament, Jesus and his disciples warn us to be prepared for him to return. If we are not prepared when he comes back, we will not see heaven. It’s very important to have a plan. Thankfully, God has a plan for us already. He sent his son to live a sinless life and then die in our place so we could live forever. Jesus told Nicodemus that we must be born again in order to get into heaven (John 3:1-7). This is something beyond scientific explanation. It’s supernatural. In this process, our sins are washed away, we become a new person with a clean slate, and the Holy Spirit comes to live in our minds and guides us in making the right decisions every day.

Jesus is coming back soon and we need to be prepared. If you can’t say without a doubt that you’re ready, then please talk to God right now and make sure you don’t miss out on heaven. The only alternative is hell, and I’m sure nobody wants that. So be prepared and I’ll see you there.

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© 2018 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

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THE MONSTER OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

It was early in the morning; maybe two o'clock. I was startled from sleep by a noise. It sounded like something big ran into the corner of the house outside my room. Still half asleep, I thought the worst. In my mind, I pictured some kind of monster. I could only imagine what he looked like, but I could actually hear him breathing loudly, and fast. He must have been running for a while before he ran into the house. Maybe he was just resting for a minute or two, then he would move on. My bed was in the corner of the room, and there was a small window above the headboard of my bed.

I was lying on my back with the covers up to my nose with my mouth covered with everything under the covers except my eyes. I was scared to death. I couldn’t move. I was literally paralyzed with fear. I was afraid the monster was looking in the small window above my bed, so I was afraid to move. I wanted to jump up and run for my life, but I was literally paralyzed with fear. My heart was beating so fast and so hard that I was actually in pain. I was scared to death.

I laid there for what seemed like forever before I was finally able to gain just enough courage to throw back the covers and jump out of bed. When I looked back at the window, there was nothing there. What a relief. I started to calm down and I began thinking a bit more clearly.

When I crawled back into bed and pulled the covers back up over my face, I realized where the heavy breathing was coming from. It was me. I felt so stupid. Remember, I had my face covered. My mouth and nose and part of my ears were all under the cover. As for the noise I heard, it could have been anything, or it could have been nothing. After all, I was asleep when I heard it. Since then, on several occasions, my neck has popped and made a loud noise in my head, usually when I was lying in bed. I’ve learned that we often imagine things, and our mind actually blows it way out of proportion. Like mine did that time.

There was a similar incident, another time when I was older. We lived in an old house that had been remodeled. The last man who lived there died there, and rumors were floating around that the house was haunted. I was in my room one day with my headphones on, remixing a song on my fancy dual cassette recorder. All of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I saw my bed start shaking. I quickly turned to see what was on my bed but there was nothing there. I threw my headphones off and started to jump up to run out of the room. When I turned around toward the door, there stood my sister’s husband laughing his head off. He had accomplished his goal, though. I was terrified. I had thought the worst.

Sometime later, in the same house, I woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn’t feel my arms. I couldn’t move them either. I didn’t know what was happening so it scared me to death. I couldn’t throw the covers off so I got out of bed the best way I could. My feet got tangled up in the covers and I fell to the floor on my knees. Since I had no control of my arms, I couldn’t put them out to catch myself, so I ended up with my face on the floor as well.

Did I mention that I was screaming the whole time? Well, I was, and that brought everybody in the house running into my room thinking a ghost was attacking me. I had started a new job that week that required me to open and close my hands repeatedly throughout the day. My muscles were having spasms and my arms were numb because of the pressure of the swollen muscles on my nerves. My point is, I was afraid. I don’t like being afraid. It’s not a natural thing. It’s painful, both mentally and physically.

I know some people believe fear is a natural thing because every human will experience it at some point in their lives. Some say that fear is healthy in certain situations, like being afraid of a snake, but just because something happens to everyone doesn’t mean it’s natural. It’s wise to be cautious around snakes, and in many other situations, but we don’t need fear to be cautious. In fact, God’s word tells us that fear is not a natural thing. And as for it being healthy, anything that doesn’t come from God is not healthy, and the Bible says fear does not come from God.

2 Timothy 1:7 
7 For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Fear is a monster, but it’s not outside our windows, or in our bedrooms. Fear is in our minds, and it’s placed there by Satan and his evil angels. Fear does not produce sound minds. Fear leads to broken minds. Just look at the majority of people with mental illness. Fear consumes their minds, and that’s not what God wants at all. Fear does not come from God, and it is not healthy at all.

On several occasions, Jesus told his followers not to be afraid. In the King James Bible, the phrase “Fear Not” is recorded sixty-two times. God doesn’t want us to be afraid. With God on our side, there’s no need for fear. The Apostle Paul said, “If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31). We need to trust God. A close personal relationship with Jesus, the Prince of peace, is vital if we want to purge fear from our minds. If you don’t have that, all you have to do is ask. Peace is only a prayer away.

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My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2017 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6