Day Ninety-Seven “Duck and Cover”
Fear and panic would invade the peaceful charm of my childhood; the warning siren would sound, and we would all respond as we had been dutifully trained, DUCK AND COVER! I grew up during the dark years of nuclear proliferation, with each new test revealing a more powerful, more deadly, hydrogen bomb. At the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, school children were being taught how to survive something that, in all reality, was not survivable. When you saw the light of the explosion you were to remember Bert, that cute cartoon turtle, hide under your desk, avoid the windows, and cover the back of your neck and face to protect them from radiation burns. One special drill allowed students who lived within a fifteen-minute walking radius of the school to return to their home and seek refuge under a bed. I can still remember the paralyzing fear as I ran home that day, face beet-red, heart racing, running into my room, hiding under my bed in tears. Thankfully, the bomb never came.
Sound like a fairy tale? It wasn’t, it was real, I can attest to that. The procedure was preparation for a disaster that never materialized. But someday, “…the sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come.” It will be “A day of darkness and of gloominess…” a day when “…the stars will withdraw their shining.” The day will come when the heavens will appear “as a scroll when it is rolled together,” when “every mountain and island” will be moved out of their places. The prophetic calendar is ticking, and the Day of the Lord spoken of throughout the pages of Scripture is quickly approaching. God will settle all accounts on that day, and the long-deserved judgment will finally fall upon the earth as payment for the iniquities of humanity. Pride will be dealt a fatal blow as “…the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low.” This earth, held in its course by God’s powerful hand, is “…reserved unto fire against the day of judgment. We are warned that this day will come unexpectedly, “as a thief in the night.” There will be no duck and cover moment, not cute cartoon turtle, on that great and terrible day.
But there is a Blessed Hope for those born into the family of God. He promises to return for us, to “descend from heaven with a shout,” to rapture us up to glory before the indescribable judgment falls upon this earth, to complete salvation’s plan in the lives of His children, those who have trusted in Him. Have you secured your escape plan? Are you prepared? “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise…but is longsuffering to us-ward.” Christ paid the price for your escape with His blood at Calvary. Bow the knee to Him today, before it is too late!
II Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness: but is longsuffering to us ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Share His love and message of salvation with someone today; time is short!
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