TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE …
Tuesday, December 06, 2016
I was doubly
excited. I was more aware of life than ever before. Every day was anticipated
for event and incident as a new adventure. I and my neighborhood girl and boy
pals didn’t know boring or depression. We weren’t wealthy, didn’t know about
weekly allowances and had to earn pennies, nickels and dimes doing chores for
neighbors if we wanted penny treats at the corner candy store or the 8 cents
for Saturday morning matinee movie. (Chores done at home were without
remuneration for “Family takes care of family, and ‘Virtue is its own
reward.’”) John Rosemond would have loved our parents for they were philosophical
poles apart from helicopter egalitarian parenting. Our days were filled with fun,
learning, revelations. Christmas was soon to be and in a month I’d be 6 years
old! Indeed I was more aware of life than ever before.
It was Saturday, December
6th, 1941 on placid Evergreen Avenue. Bath and cod liver or mineral
oil evening. (Can you hear the gagging echoes?) As with most nights, bedtime
included Grandmother or Uncle Jim hugging and tucking me and 2 years younger
brother Jim in after our kneeling beside our beds and saying “Now I lay me down
to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I
pray the Lord my soul to take.”
Sunday was a
drastically new experience. Our phone unusually ringing often but without
explanation to Jim or me as we repeatedly asked. Groups of neighbors gathered
on lawns, porches and in the street. Some men’s profanity falling anew on our
ears as tears fell from women’s eyes.
That “day of
infamy” changed my life. I learned doubt, fear, and hatred.
However, 21 years
later I came to know that compared to all that was, is, and ever will be, Pearl
Harbor Day is but a blip on history’s timeline. The much larger effectual surprise
is the sooner or later return of Lord Jesus Christ as He will “come as a thief
in the night”. (Mt.24:43; 1Thes.5:2) And as with the USA land and sea
introduction to WWII a minority will be prepared (1Thes.5:1, 4, 9), whereas the
majority will not (1Thes.5:3, 5; Mt.7:14).
Dear fellow
traveler, if you have not done so already, please “Be ready, because the Son of
Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him” (Mt.24:44) Jesus Christ
alone is the one to trust as “the way, truth, and life” (Jn.14:6) I plead with
you to do so as we know not when death or His return will end this time of opportunity
unto salvation with its available personal authentic peace and freedom. I and
other caring followers of Christ appeal to you to receive the grace of God unto
everlasting life. For He says, "In a favorable time I listened to you, and
in a day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the favorable
time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (ESV 2Cor.6:1-2)
For “… just as it
is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ,
having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time,
not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.“ (ESV Heb.9:27-28)
Admittedly I do
like it here but am eagerly awaiting meeting my Redeemer. But that’s another
conflict story I often consider.
EBB4
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