Are you READY?

Are you READY? You’d better be. School has begun again! Are you READY? You’d better be. A hurricane might be impacting you and riding up the east coast! Are you READY? Labor Day marks the “official” societal end of summer and the beginning of a focus on work or labor; this is the last weekend for many to get in that vacation! Are you READY? Football season is about to begin. What an exciting time for so many! Are you READY? The world remains on the knife’s edge with rogue dictators and rulers provoking one another and even threatening stability around our planet. Are you READY? Israeli and Arab leaders are meeting again in Washington, D.C. and Egypt to work toward a peace plan for that tiny, yet most volatile area of the world! Are you READY? Death is immanent (as it has been for many I know, both younger and older in the past week or so). You will one day meet your Maker and give an account to Him! Are you READY?

Clearly, there are a whole host of things that prompt you to consider whether you are ready for a particular task or event. Being ready is a very important thing! It means that you are prepared; it means that you are in a place to take on the responsibility or experience at hand. This is often understood physically, yet being ready for a physical activity or event first involves the mind and emotions. When looking at it even deeper, there is also the spiritual dimension, where our CREATOR GOD is in control and always READY for everything that HE controls and allows to happen. Being ready is a very important thing to consider!

Are you ready? Life is not always as predictable as you might think. Yes, we can expect certain things to continue and happen as they normally do, but we must not be so sure that we fail to prepare, at least to some degree, for unexpected events. Can you predict when the next person might “snap” and go on a shooting rampage? Can you predict when your heart will stop beating or when your brain will cease functioning? There are some things we just don’t know about life and death; we had best be ready for both!

I did not expect all of the events that happened to me after the “worst shooting massacre in U.S. History” occurred on 04-16-07. How could I know then that I would suddenly be betrayed and abandoned by friends and then forced by police escort from my home for an unnecessary mental evaluation? How could I know that a well educated doctor there would ignore my reasonableness and label me “psychotic” (among other things), primarily because of my faith? How was I to know that the system was so compromised and broken as it is, leading to a Court-ordered treatment for me to be controlled through anti-psychotic medications? How could I know that my wife would succumb to this false label and the fear it brought with the misguided support of others, even today still keeping me from my family? How could I have known that I would be involuntarily forced two other times to various mental health facilities and later even handcuffed and falsely taken to two jails, when I had violated no law, nor posed any physical threat to anyone? I did not expect all of my tragedy to happen (and there is much more as I have written in my book), yet I was ready! I was ready because of my “unwavering beliefs” (an assessment by the sociologist responsible for reporting after my comprehensive psychological evaluation)!

Friend, I do not know what sustains you when you are faced with problems. I don’t know if you would turn to the typical escapes that most do—alcohol, drugs, work, education, etc.—and yet neglect the One Who will sustain you through ANYTHING, if you let HIM! Do not let the loss of a job or opportunity or even a loved one throw you into depression or defeat you. Learn to not only survive, but prevail through whatever you face and become an Overcomer! Please be sure that you know GOD through JESUS CHRIST and are prepared to meet HIM! Do what you need to do today in order to BE READY!