This post is from the Lord to you. We are down to the wire. It is time to make final preparations, time to ask the Lord to pare down your doings to those things that will carry you through the coming final days. The Lord called teams of watchfolk, all the way down through the church age, to the present. I was called in ’09 and He called me to blogging in 2011. Over time, He led me to various sources, weeded may out, and I got to see a last days roster of leaders, one here, one there, be brought to the forefront, then got to witness God amazingly bring each of those into the acquaintance of one another to organically form this leadership pyramid of sorts. I am profoundly humbled and blessed and thankful that the Lord allowed me to be a witness of that work, and be one of the littlest cogs in the machine. I have had online contact with so many remnant saints, and every single one has been a blessing the Lord used to encourage, to spur on, to sharpen.

The Lord is directing me that now is time to work on creating local connections and networking, and that we are moving into a period when that is going to be crucial. We live in a neighborhood that has been largely rental the 28 years we have lived here, but has undergone a big boom of selling-renovating, then selling to individual owners as opposed to landlords the past few years, and so we have owners, rather than renters that drift in, stay a year or two, and move on. People who are invested and here for the long haul.

I had signs made for my yard that witness the gospel, and say “Normal is not coming back, Jesus is”.  I have ordered a 4 foot banner that says ServeHimInTheWaiting.com and plan to post it on the big pecan tree beside the house on the busy side street that runs past the North side of our house.

I have been very busy selling on Mercari, by God’s provision and with His enableing, to pay a third of the cost for an aid to care for Mom many hours a week, which is something I can’t physically do, and her living in WV and me in VA, even the frequent trips up there and weeks away from home the last 16 mo have been tough, but by God’s grace, He has made it all possible and kept her out of a nursing home, and though I am run down and was sick for about 2 weeks after my last trip, I also feel I am getting better at getting in and staying in the yoke with Jesus so He bears the greater of the load.

The selling takes a lot of hours, and wouldn’t seem profitable if viewed in a strictly dollars per hour of work put in, but it is work I can handle, not physically strenuous, and has met the need so far.

I will continue to post as the Lord enables, but ya’ll are used to my feast- or-famine pattern by now. I figure God is quite capable of making sure I see a and pass along what He wants me to see and pass along, meanwhile He is leading me to focus more on things close to home, and on what I’ll call basic spiritual hygeine and self care. That means trusting Him MORE with all things pertaining to Mom. Getting to church. Praying consistently and MORE about EVERYTHING. Back to basics. And intentionally cultivating neighborhood relationships, finding out all I can about my neighbors, promoting “community” that brings people together now that there are people putting down roots. I know there are some Christians around us and more importantly I want to know who is open to things of God, and who is awake to the many changes heading our way and ones already in place. I think God wants to use us to spark something here in the radius of our home.

Matter of fact, as I write this, it becomes more and more clear that God is taking us into a new endeaver, which means it’s time for fasting and a season of specific prayer. I have tried without much success to engage believers within my personal circle of acquaintance and contact, into this effort of raising awareness of the late hour. But now it’s time to pivot.

It is really time to fish!

Jesus told the disciples in John 21, cast the net on the right side of the boat. The disciples were in a time of transition very similar to the one we are in. They were at the beginning of the dispensation of grace. We are at the end of it. Some huge unexpected changes were hitting. Jesus had warned, but they had yet to fully comprehend. They didn’t realize the persecution that was headed their way, nor how amazing the things they would witness and be a part of. They were discouraged because He had not set up His earthly kingdom, and after spending time with him daily for 3 years, having Him direct, instruct, and even orovide food for them, they were “on their own” again, feeling at loose ends, and to top it off, they were even failing at the thing they knew best, fishing. Jesus spoke, and though they had tried their best, they obeyed and let down their net one more time, and caught 153 great big fish, so many it strained the net! This miracle occured the 8th time Jesus bodily appeared post-resurrection. The account drives home the point that unless we involve Jesus in any endeavor, we are going to fail. Yet when we do involve Him, there is abundant fruit. (Should be a no-brainer, and yet…..!) The 153 big catch is similar to an earlier event when the disciples were first called to be fishers of men. Maybe a subtle reminder that their calling had not changed just because Jesus was no longer going to bodily walk among them? Sunday’s sermon was on this passage at church last week and I related to a lot the pastor said, as my week last week with the selling was pretty fruitless and then suddenly the last few days there were several sales.

My ministry has been to churched believers on the blog as much as to the lost over the years. Now is a time of renewing first love. It’s time to go out to the byways and hedges and bid “whomsoever will” to come to the banquet. (Questions about Asbury aside, God is always ready to pour out His spirit for laborers willing to work the harvest). Meanwhile, we will be building relationships with people around us that all can be a community in the grid-down, train-derailment, natural disaster situations that ARE COMING! (Antifa?, recruits from among the criminals crossing our borders? Definitely intentional Sabotage! China and Russia are both at war with us, it’s just that America is not defending herself and no official proclaimation has been made).

We prayed and prayed that God would move us out of this neighborhood, for years! He never would!  So I expect He has something for us to do here.

When a woman is in labor there is a time called “transition”. It is kind of the “storm before the calm”. You read that correctly. The storm is first. The woman in transition will experience a bit of panic and lose perspective and resolve as it hits home, “oh wow, this is it, no slowing down or backing out, this thing is really happening!!”  She may momentarily feel fearful and get a head full of “what-if’s” and dread of pain, and doubt her ability to endure it. She will likely experience time distortion. Five minutes may feel like an hour or vice versa. Pressure, irritability, increased need for emotional support and reassurance, a desire for relief, a wish to call for “time out” when there is no more “time out”. God didn’t liken the developments of this time to labor for no reason, and although this will apply particularly in the tribulation for the tribulation saints, it is applicable now to us as well.

Once a woman passes through the transition, the real work begins and she starts the pushing stage. It’s painful during the contraction, but in between them she is usually her calm rational, determined, focused self. That is where you want to let God take you. As things get more chaotic, and possibly painful, some of you are already there, know He can and will bring you through your situation. But some still need to get there and know there will be respite. And eventually full deliverence from the evils of this world. Get that nailed down, and you’ll be ok.

No woman knows what her labor is going to be like. Every delivery is different, even for one mom, every delivery is different. There are some consistencies, but many variables.

If the Lord’s plan is to rapture us before the hot war comes to American shores, so be it, but if He doesn’t, then what? Are you praying for God to prepare you for whatever lies ahead?

If the power grid does not fail where you live, Hallelujah! But what if it does? What if the next train derailment/chemical spill/explosion is in your town? Do not let those words engender fear. God knows. Ask Him: “Is it coming here?” “What do I need to be doing?” Many focus so much on the physical, but what about your spiritual hygeine?

Lately with all I have had going on, I have experienced something close to the panic attacks I used to endure in my 20’s. They are aptly named, because you will be going about your business, totally not even thinking about anything worrysome, when “BAM”, anxiety crawls all over you like a horde of locusts. I am learning to combat it spiritually. I find I often can’t just calm down on demand which means I can’t pray very effectually in that state, and the thing most needful at that juncture is not that the Lord needs to hear from  me, it’s that I need to hear from Him!  So I go open my Bible. A walk around the block and 10 minutes of sunshine helps when I am down. I have had to learn and re-learn these God-given remedies.

I think God is very eager and ready to send us what help we need in every situation and moment if we will only think to ask. I think nothing is too small a thing to talk to God about. And it goes without saying there is plenty of big stuff we all face that we need to make sure we pray about.

So in the days, weeks, and months ahead, I pray that He draws each of us close, shows us what we need to concentrate our energies, efforts and resources on, shows us who needs the gospel from us, emboldens us, sustains us, establishes us, strengthens us in His strength and prepares us. I know He will eventually deliver us, it’s the time between now and then that concerns me! I want to be faithful and to finish well. I often have felt like that man who put his hand to the plow and looked back. I fail a lot. But my course is my course and can’t be compared to anyone else’s. I want to do the best I can where God has me and with what He gave me to work with.

I want to be “walking circumspect, eyes on the Lord, wearing the armor, in His grace, and unafraid”, come what may! You might want to copy out the verses of Psalm 91 and post them in conspicuous places where you will see them or can pull them out of your pocket and read. You don’t have to memorize it to get it into your heart. Memorizing involves the head, not the heart. Not to dissuade anyone from memorization, but I think the pressure to memorize is counterproductive for some of us. Exposure is what matters. Baths and showers have to be repeated but each one does some good. So it is with the Word!

Psalm 91

¹He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

² I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

³ Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

⁴ He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

⁵ Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

⁶ Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

⁷ A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

⁸ Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

⁹ Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

¹⁰ There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

¹¹ For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

¹² They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

¹³ Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

¹⁴ Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

¹⁵ He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

¹⁶ With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.