The Rapture, An Opportunity, Being Equiped

Yesterday, on May 21, 2010, there was a scheduled "rapture." There were people who misinterpreted the Bible in order to calculate the time and day of the rapture. For the most part I didn't know of anyone who believed this story. Many of my friends joked about it. I wondered if there was anyone who believed this theory and if I would see any kind of reaction. On Saturday, while cashiering at work, I heard my co-workers discuss it. One of the cashiers seemed concerned about what was going to happen. She didn't want to be left behind. I wish everyone had that kind of urgency. Even if the rapture isn't today, it's going to happen eventually. We aren't going to know when it happens and we should all be prepared. This cashier seemed to want salvation. She wanted hope and assurance that she wouldn't be damned to hell. She asked me if I would be leaving or staying. I told her that today wasn't the day. "I'm not going anywhere, yet." My whole life I have wanted situations to share the LORD with people. This seemed like the perfect opportunity. She was actually seeking out information and was ready to receive it. I wished that I could tell her the answer that she was looking for, but the fact was I didn't know the answer myself. I felt so horrible for letting the opportunity go by. How could I tell her I was leaving and not invite her too! I thought about the witnessing tools I have heard used by "The Way of the Master" I always thought that it was most effective to get people thinking and have to answer for themselves. I thought about the idea of absolutism and relativism and the fact that no one can believe it's all relative. Some of my coworkers were talking about the fact that everyone can believe something different for themselves and that a person cannot push that on another person. This seemed quite puzzling to me. To me it seemed absolute, either nothing was going to happen that day, or mass numbers of people would leave the earth. There was only two options and that was certain. Someone had to be wrong. I thought about how truly tragic it would be if the rapture were to have came at that time and we all were left behind and didn't even notice a change. Most seemed fine with that possibility, I could not accept it.

As a follower of Christ I have accepted the call to tell the world the good News. I have personally heard a call to be a missionary. It wasn't until recently that I have been challenged as to what is the truth. I was unsure where this questioning came from, but I can no see that it is good. Through this questioning I have seen that I am not as confident as I thought, that I don't really have all the answers. This questioning is preparing me to be strengthened and equipped with the truth. God wants us to use discernment to find out what is good and what is true.

I have been wanting to reach out to others and be a witness. This situation as made me realize how truly unequipped I am. I'm not sure what to do to get equipped or what I can do in the mean time. I have been wanting to be a light to my world showing people love in ways that I haven't been. I would like to volunteer at Life Services and help to relieve the perceived "necessity" of abortion. In order to volunteer at Life Services, I must complete an application. When I began filling it out, I realized that I could not answer many of the question, because I didn't know the answer. I thought that I could just use the answers of other people, or just make something up that I thought they would like to hear. Now I have come to wonder if the fact that I am unable to complete the application makes me unqualified to be a volunteer. I do not think that it would be appropriate to be in a situation that I am not qualified for, yet I also think that the only way to become qualified is to be in situations that would test and strengthen me.