Worth the wait

Luke 21:25-28
"There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,
and on earth nations will be in dismay,
perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
People will die of fright
in anticipation of what is coming upon the world,
for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
And then they will see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
But when these signs begin to happen,
stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand."

Last night I read this verse and I actually "looked ahead" to see if there were any "good" verses coming up because all this talk about the end of the world is exhausting! (Don't worry, tomorrow is fisherman :) ) But it was a good reminder to me that the end of the world shouldn't scare me. Reading about the end of the world should be an exciting thing because it's the final episode where good conquers evil! Jesus says people will "die of fright in anticipation of what is coming" but then the next sentence says "they will see the Son of Man coming". How dissappointing! The whole worlds been waiting for the coming of Jesus for thousands of years, they were about to witness it, and they died because they got too scared of what MIGHT happen!
I like to run, and something I discovered about running is that there comes a point in the run where you are out of breath, your muscles are hurting and it's getting very difficult to keep going, but if you can allow your brain to control your body and make it keep running, you find within a few minutes you actually reach the best part of the run, your body settles in to it, you're not laboring quite so hard, and you're feeling really great because you challenged yourself. I think a lot of times in life, just when things start to get really hard for us, we have a tendancy to quit, or walk away. Maybe its a friendship, maybe its a marriage, a job, or a volunteer position. But if we give in just when it gets difficult, we miss out on the really great part of it that was just around the corner. 

Father, please give me the strength to face the challenge you've placed before me, run beside me, and remind me that you're about to make it all worth it. Please be with anyone reading this blog who is struggling with something so difficult they feel like they can't keep going.  Help them to know you are with them and the best is yet to come! Amen.