I could gather the day’s significant stories and link them to keep you informed this Sunday morning of Thanksgiving weekend. There’s not a lot of new news to convey, and I am kind of newsed-out anyway.

Yesterday afternoon, a wave of sadness washed over me. It took me completely by surprise. It wasn’t specific. Maybe on some level, the things I know about this time we live in, registered on a more conscious level, because we can really feel it coming now, we see it happening.

Our oldest son and his wife were here Thursday. We have missed a lot of holidays with him while he was in the Army. Our youngest had plans to come home, but he is currently stationed in California and lockdowns/Covid restrictions prevented the approval of leaveand/or repealed leave already approved. I know he was sad not to get home, and on Thanksgiving day, I could hear his homesickness over the phone. He needed a break, after deployment, but Covid trumps even that, apparently.

While here, the oldest retrieved the Christmas “stuff” that was stored in our garage, and I found out they didn’t have a tree. May have sold that before hauling their belongings from California to the East Coast. We stilll had our big “family size” tree, so I offered them that. There wasn’t room in their small car for the tree, along with their other Christmas stuff, the leftovers, and their big old Husky. As we waved them off yesterday, I experienced the same surreal feeling I had when those OB nurses let us drive away with his tiny helpless new life 24 years ago. As if we knew what we were doing. Now, we are the middle aged parents, watching them drive away, and if the Lord tarries, at some point they will have kids and cycle through all those stages themselves. He came back for the tree today, and some decorations. So there I was, divvying up the massive haul of ornaments accumulated for years, with all the memories that they stir up.

I never cared for the designer tree look. I kept every silly paper Christmas thing they made in school and the homemade ones we made together, and picture-frame ornaments for every every school year picture, and that’s the stuff I decorated with. Reindeer heads made with googly eyes glued to a dog biscuit. Clothespin reindeer. Lego santa and snowman. Ornaments from their favorite movies and cartoons, or whatever they were into that year. And those made from pretty Christmas cards from previous years.

I am so Thankful I got to be a Mom. Those were some very hard years, but I have such precious memories of the hugs and the laughter. Thanksgiving was always best. All the fun of Christmas, but without the spending. The stress of those years disappears with time, and the good stuff is what we keep.

But as I contemplate the uncertainties of the future, I wonder how much of those special things our sons will get to experience.

I think of the little ones who should have had their momentous first day of kindergarten, the high schoolers who didn’t get to have graduations and proms, and I hate for them to have been cheated. But in reality, aside from those current junior and senior classes, who have had time to look forward to these milestones, by the time it’s the classes of 2024, 25, they won’t even know about what no longer exists, those traditions, and they will start their own new ones.

These things are sentimental, but not tragic. However, what is happening to the Constitutional Republic of America, well that is tragic, legitimately sad. Nations rise and fall, they say. Some do. Some that are much older than America, are still around, though. From a perspective of one who believes the Bible, and prophecy, I have known a day would come, when America was weakened or subverted, but even considering my citizenship to be in Heaven, I still can’t help but mourn the passing of the America that was. The America they barely got a chance to know.

Trump may prevail this time, but sometimes the “termite damage” is so far along, that even the foundation itself can’t be salvaged. Even if Trump prevails, there will be no cooperation between those seeking to defeat America and those trying to preserve it. The resistence he had to push through will not be less in a second term. There is a fighting spirit still alive in America, and I do not believe for one second that even 40% of Americans want what Biden represents.

I have hoped for Trump to win, but frankly have not asked God for that. I have only asked that He not let the cheaters get by with this, and that evil would be exposed, and that He would be glorified. I know very well that ease and plenty don’t move people closer to God. No one enjoys hardship, but better things come out of that, than out of prosperity, societally speaking, and spiritually for sure.

My whole life as far back as I can remember, I have known this world is not my home. I don’t recall having had anybody tell me that, but as far back as I was capable of grasping abstract things, I have had the anticipation of what is beyond this life. Aside from my 20’s when I was very disillusioned for a while, I have looked at this life in that light.

When you mine for precious stones, or pan for gold, there is a lot more dirt, mud, and water than there are rubies and garnets and gold, but when you sift through all that, and come away with valuable nuggets, it is worth it all. Life is the same way. If you managed to have one or two faithful friends, decent health, love, a family, peace, you can count yourself blessed. People are what matter. Success, money, “status” are all hollow and so superficial.

But when I think about what comes next, I get so eager to get to that. So much to learn, so many things we will experience. New. Everything new. New colors, sounds, sensations, capabilities. As Creation became history, and then the flood, the birth of Christ, and His crucifixion, so will the church age become history, and do you think God is done? I seriously doubt that! As the angels watched our progression through time, what will we get to witness?

I look forward to safety, for all of us. Not having to lose someone we love ever again. No worries. Nothing to dread or fear. Having energy and strength.

But for now, we are still here, and waiting and hopefully serving in whatever way God has for us individually. Every year is different, but 2020 has been more different than most. If there ever was a Christmas to re-learn that Christmas is not in running up debt on your credit cards, to buy gifts most of the recipients don’t need, this is it. The Grinch of Covid can take all those trappings away. It is a good year to get back to what really matters. Is America over? Is the church age over? We’ll only know for sure when we hear that Trumpet. But the state of the world sure bears a strong resemblance to the picture painted in Bible prophecy. Will God hit the pause button? If you consider that all of the other times Christians thought we were on the brink, but the moment passed and life went on does that make it less likely, or more likely this really is the end? I think more likely, but it ain’t over ’til it is over. And that is how we have to look at it. Occupy now. Don’t look too far ahead. Don’t borrow trouble. And if Trump stays in the White House beyond January 20, don’t assume that can’t change because this attempt to steal an election is much bigger than just America, and frankly Biden in the White House moves the prophetic scenario forward sooner, in my estimation, than if Trump stays. We no longer can assume that the ratio of R’s to D’s that fill the seats of Congress and state houses guarantees anything that it once would have. I think the only question left on timing of the rapture is whether it will be soon, or very soon. The great reset, the Covid-excuse for dispensing with the concept of ” rights” social credit, no freedom to buy, sell, work, travel without agreeing to a tracker which could be administered with the Covid vaccines, whether this batch, or later ones for the future permutations of Covid that the “experts” have already warned are coming. That will be the last exercise in conditioning the masses before the literal mark of the beast will be offered to those who want to “go back to having freedom”, and the allegiance to antichrist that will entail. Scripture indicates people will take it willingly. We can easily see they will be compelled by their hunger, need for medical care, wish to be reunited with scattered loved ones. These things scripture warned about are no longer far-fetched at all! That alone should convince people we are getting down to the wire, but it doesn’t, because so few know Bible prophecy. It’s not too late to start looking into it.