A Modern Tale of being Left Behind:

Unscrupulous happenings, sharp thunder bolts and lightning! These were not necessarily in the tale of a young woman named Laila. It was really very simple, if you understand what I mean. There were no dead people rising from the grave, or earthquakes killing the people of the land. There were no tales of war in a distant country, or stories of locusts eating the grains of the land. The people were not starving, neither were they desolate. If anything at all was amiss, it was only the crazy unpredictable rainy season of the year, where young children forgot their umbrellas at home and their mothers scolded them for it.

Young Laila, being 27, was being chased for marriage. She was as tall and slender as models in modern fashion spreads, possibly even fairer. She was unique. She called herself a "Christian," a distasteful tag very unlikely for ladies of her age. Everyone knew it, even the mad McFischer brothers down the road. But it was only a tag for Laila. She was not living up to her name anymore and she knew it. At first, she was passionate about God. But after a while she thought it was stupid to be like that every time. She needed a break from it all, at least once in a while. Come on, the body was not a log of wood! So every other Sunday she skipped the service at the Baptist church near the river, and she did some other happy thing, like reading a novel or going shopping ~ little things that made her all giddy with happiness. Once in a while people need to find their happy place, right? So she did...and no one accused her.

After a while, she moved on to higher places of happiness. One Saturday she followed Daniel McFischer to the end of the bend, and there they made love. It felt good, not bad. Almost a month later, she got really mad at Klara for not listening to her rantings, and she told all her secrets to the people at the Baptist church. They were not good stories to reveal. But she said it anyway. Once in a while she still attended church, but she was hardly in the presence of God. She was left behind in her mind, in a place where no one really searches...in her emotions.

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I called this a modern tale of being left behind, because that's exactly what it is. Many of us youngsters are already being left behind. It is not necessarily a one-day 'lightning-in-the-sky' experience. Many are still seeking for a sign to know when the apocalypse will happen. Yes, it could be an unconscious search for a sign...you may not even realize you're doing it.

But when you thought God's love was real before and now you're having second thoughts, then you're seeking for a soul-wrecking sign...something that will jolt you out of bed at night and bring you solemnly to your knees. Unfortunately, it does not look like we will be having any mind-boggling thunder bolts or lightning anytime soon. What it looks like is already happening is the war and troubles of our mind. Some are already being left behind because their minds are no longer present in anything concerning God.

From mere observation, many of us constantly battle with thoughts in our heads. Thoughts of how we want to be like every body else. Thoughts of how "if God existed, why do some things happen the way they do?" Thoughts of MURDER without the action. Thoughts of HATE hidden beneath a smile of pretentious love. Thoughts of SUICIDE hidden beneath a religious sense of joy. Thoughts of faithfulness when you know that deep inside you want to be unfaithful.

I remember now that Jesus said that "an adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given them except the sign of Jonah." That sign is that Jonah was buried in the belly of a fish for three days and then released, a prototype of how Jesus died for your sins and mine and got buried for three days, and on the third day He rose up again. That's the only sign which has already been given, nothing more and nothing less.

My crazy bold statement today is that the process of being left behind has already begun in our minds and emotions. If you're getting tired of the walk, buckle your shoes again and stand up tall...don't let anyone or anything change you...remember those words that God placed inside you a while back...

Let's remember the passion...let's remember our first love today. Don't be LEFT BEHIND...

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