Living on the Edge

It's 6 a.m. on Saturday, and Professor Kato is awakened at home by the beeping of
his government-issued pager. He knows he must act fast. The local police arrived within minutes to transport him with sirens howling and red lights whirling, to the Meteorological Agency in Otemachi, Tokyo. The five other members of the Earthquake Assessment Committee had already arrived and were examining seismograph data,
to inform the Prime Minister of major tremors about to strike the city.

The brakes must be slammed on the bullet express trains, expressways and factories needed to be shut down, gas and electricity supplies must be made safe, and the public has to be warned. Hours later, at the Prime Minister's command, thousands of members of the Self-Defense Forces and volunteer relief workers are put into action in response to a magnitude 7.2 quake that is about to devastate Tokyo.

This wake-up call for Professor Kato was the opening scene of a dress-rehearsal that takes place in Tokyo each Sept. 1 -- the anniversary of 1923's Great Kanto Earthquake, a 7.9 magnitude trembler, that claimed more than 140,000 lives and reduced much of the capital to burned-out rubble. Scientists are desperately seeking for a system that could give a 24-hour warning of a big earthquake, but that scenario is at present a chance of one in a million to predict an earthquake. –Neil Verwey / Japan Mission

We have been forewarned of a potentially far more catastrophic event 
for which WE must prepare: Judgment Day! The Final Judgment of EVERY SOUL 
that has ever lived which will take place upon the return of the Lord Jesus Christ 
(Acts 17:30-31). We must be ready! As no one can predict earthquakes, so no one 
can foretell the return of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Prepare for his coming – live in a state of readiness. ONLY the faithful child of God is TRULY prepared!

One BECOMES a child of God when… he places his trust in God (Hebrews 11:6), repents of sin (Acts 17:30-31), confesses Christ (Romans 10:9-10), and is baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). 
The child of God REMAINS in a state of readiness by… continuing to walk in the light of God’s Word, striving to live faithfully before the Lord each day (1 John 1:7). "For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night" (1 Thessalonians 5:2).

*We might not know the time when Jesus will again return, but let's be ready when He comes back for His own. 

It could be tomorrow!  Be alert and watchful!

David A. Sargent / M. Eddlemon

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695  

* Adapted from article by Neil Verwey / Japan Mission

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