Living with an eye on the sky

On Tuesday morning, there was a "rainbow" around the sun, which left many a Barbadian curiously worried.  I was having coffee over at a friend's house and so I did not see this wonder.  But, once I left there and went to a store - everyone was talking about it.  The next store I went to - everyone was talking about it.  The picture at the end of this article was taken by a woman in the first store.  The picture at the top was taken by Linda Phillips who goes to my church - Grace Fellowship.  Even the next day, I heard people on the boardwalk talking about this marvel and it was in the local newspaper.  The Barbados Meteorological Office's phone rang nonstop for over 3 hours after this occurrence.   

People wanted to know if the world was coming to an end.  That very same day there was an earthquake on the neighboring island of St. Lucia.  Everyone had just been hearing about the US Economy and how the stock market was down, way down.  They were seeing the riots in London.  They were reading of the mass famine in Somalia.  So, why couldn't it be when Jesus was returning?  It really got me to thinking that Tuesday afternoon.  I go on about my life and always think of Christ's return as something that will happen "someday". I know a lot of the signs that Jesus foretold seem to be happening now.  But, no one knows the hour and moment of Jesus' return.  We have to be on guard and waiting.  I realized that if it had been the moment of Christ's return, I wouldn't feel prepared or worthy enough.  The song that kept going through my head that Tuesday afternoon was "The King Is Coming."  Oh, what a glorious day that will be.  

What this phenomenon really was - was a halo - and it supposedly occurs all the time.  I guess it just hasn't happened here in Barbados.  When you have a certain type of cloud in the sky - cirrostratus, you get refraction of the light and you get that circle around the sun or the moon which is called a halo.   

I know God is talking to me.  I think he wanted me to publish this post.  He wanted me to share it on facebook as well.  Because the very next morning (Wednesday), my email devotional from Pastor Jack Graham was entitled "Living with an eye on the sky."  I will end with his devotional.  But, I hope I can start living with my eye on the sky.  

"For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

I once heard a man speak who was the head of a Christian orphanage in Kentucky. And the unique thing about this children’s home is that all the children there are mentally handicapped. As the man was talking he said,

“You know, we have a maintenance problem at the home. We teach these precious children the Bible and they don’t understand a lot of what we’re saying. But we tell them about Jesus and that Christ came to save them. And not only that, but we also tell them that Christ is coming again and when He does, everything’s going to be perfect and they’re going to be perfect.

“We’ve got a maintenance problem. And the maintenance problem at our home is the windows! We can’t keep the windows clean because these precious little children believe so strongly in the Second Coming of Jesus that they put their little faces and their little hands up to the window every day and they look for Jesus to come and make everything right.”

How aware these children have become of their need for a restorer because of their circumstances. And the truth is that you and I have that exact same need. We suffer from the sickness of sin on a daily basis and our only hope is Christ’s return.

The windows of every Christian’s home should be smudged and dirty because of our passionate expectation of Christ’s soon return. So live your life with an eye on the sky waiting for that glorious day!"