
Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. -
Matthew 25:13
I assumed, and I was wrong.
A few of years ago we spent a number of days in South Carolina visiting with my family and we stayed at the home of my older sister. We also attended my cousins wedding and engaged meaningfully with extended family members during the very special trip. However, before the last day of our vacation the plumbing in my sister’s house stopped functioning. Naturally, we could not take showers, have access to drinking water, or wash clothes. So we all moved to a hotel for the final night of our stay. Crisis averted….for now. We awoke the next morning, packed up leisurely, found something to eat, and cruised without any urgency back to my sister’s home, anticipating an easy drive to the airport in North Carolina which was over an hour away.
Upon reaching her house we were informed that there was a cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline which affected gas stations up and down the East Coast. We learned that none of the stations in the immediate area were distributing fuel and we had only a few minutes to get on the road to head towards the airport so that we could get there on time and catch our flight. It was then that I recalled passing by a gas station earlier that morning (where people were obviously able to get gas) and thinking to myself that I didn’t need to stop then because I could always get fuel on my way to the airport. I assumed. I was wrong. Now I wish I had fueled up when I had the chance. So there we were, scrambling to figure out our next move. We drove to multiple gas stations, each one refusing to operate.The lines were long, and time was getting short. We were running as low on patience as we were on gas. We decided just to head to North Carolina in hopes that some gas station along the way had what we needed. Fortunately, my mother, who was driving a different vehicle, found a place a few miles from where we were that was not affected and we quickly drove there to gas up. Thankful, we sped towards our destination. Unfortunately though, we still ended up missing our flight. On top of that, when we called to inform the airline we found that the insurance we purchased didn’t cover this kind of emergency. One would assume a national security issue would be covered. But nope. Then to add insult to injury, we somehow ended up having to pay many hundreds of dollars extra to rebook the tickets. It got worse. We must have accidentally contacted a third party to arrange the flight and the guy we were dealing with literally tried to scam us. That saga didn’t end until I manned up on him and called his bluff and he backed down. We paid more money for yet another hotel and woke up our kids at 4 something in morning to make it to the airport to fly back to California.
We got home safely thank God, but some lessons were learned on that trip. The recurring theme in all of them was, never assume. Do not assume that plans will work out exactly as they are drawn up. Do not assume that insurance companies have your best interest in mind…they only have their own. Do not assume you have all the time in the world and that you don’t need to be precise and also prepare for the unexpected. Do not assume that people will not take advantage of you. I could probably think of more.
But get this. Jesus strongly advised us to keep watch, stay vigilant, and give strict attention to His advent. Why? It will be unexpected. And so will some of the events leading up to it. So never assume. We have our Bibles, we have prophecy, we have some clear guidance, but we can not assume we know it all. We cannot assume we are ready if we are actually not. We cannot assume we know the exact way everything is going to unfold. “Assumptions are dangerous things.” So pay attention, plan for what you can, prepare for the unknown, and rely fully upon Jesus Christ. In this, we are safe.
We will continue our march into the closing chapters of the book of Matthew. This Sabbath I will speak on The Life and Teachings of Jesus: Assumptions. The 25th chapter of Matthew contains three parables in which individuals made assumptions and were found to be wrong in their assessment. These are narratives about the second coming so we should pay close attention to what Jesus is teaching. Take some time to read this section of scripture and let’s be ready to study deeply. See you soon!
Pastor Dean