Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Matthew 24:44 ESV
Traveling with a large family can be fun, but complicated! In 1987 we took our daughters and my five-year-old nephew on a road trip from Texas to Montana, to visit my in-laws.
Along the way we drove to Estes Park, then to the tippy-top of Rocky Mountain National Park, before heading north to Wyoming.
We didn’t plan strategically. Instead of scheduling a hotel room for that night, we decided just to drive through. At this point we were all exhausted. As my husband drove, the kids and I slept soundly.
Until we felt a thump. And a groan.
Flat time.
Time to find the tire iron. I helped unpack all of the suitcases as my husband grumbled about the missing tire iron. I wasn’t must help because I wasn’t even sure what a tire iron looked like. Finally, I asked him, “Explain what we’re looking for so I can help you.”
He held up his index fingers and crossed them into an X.
And that’s when it hit me.
That big metal X-shaped object I’d taken out before leaving our house so that we would have room for all of the luggage. Our tire iron was missing. . .because of me.
And so, I had to tell him. I’ll never forget the look on his face or the pit in my stomach.
We somehow hobbled the van into a nearby town where he borrowed a tire iron to change the tire. But by then, the damage was already done to the rim, since we’d driven on it. My mistake had cost us a lot—financially, emotionally, and mentally.
God wants us to be prepared at all times.
That’s especially important now, in the 21st century, as end time prophecies seem to be coming true all around us. We have to be watchful. Alert. Not snoozing in the van with a MIA tire iron.
Stay in the Word. Keep your prayer life active. And keep your eyes peeled on the heavens for the One who will soon come to take us home!
Challenging Thought: Would you say that you are a “prepared” individual? What are some areas where you might do better?
Read more devotions like this one in a new book Janice co-authored with Louise Looney titled An Overcoming Walk of Peaks and Valleys, now available on Amazon!
