The Honda diesel generator purred smoothly as the old man stood beside it. Just the look on his face said he was pleased, satisfied.
“Yeah, she started right up as usual. Listen to her!”
He spoke again to his listener, my friend Larry: “I do this every Thursday. Don’t ever want to be stuck in the winter cold. Got to be ready!”
That last comment sounded strange, because that very afternoon last week, in Deep River, the thermometer was bursting past 102°F.
“Got this baby before Y2K. Have to think ahead! If we ever need it, the wife and me, we’re ready!”
Larry spoke now. “Can I leave you this Bible verse poster to put on the fridge or the wall? It’s a verse about God’s love to us, how He sent His Son here to save us?”
The man was startled. “No way,” he said curtly. “I’m 87 years old. I have no time for that religious stuff. My dad was a minister, and when I left home almost 70 years ago, I left all that behind.”
He wasn’t finished yet. “I don’t know if there’s a heaven or a hell. If there is, I’m probably going to hell, but I don’t care.”
Think about that! He starts his generator every Thursday throughout the boiling summer, just to be ready for a cold day next December, if the power goes off. “Got to be ready.”
What amazing, calculating carefulness! He’s been prepared for the last five or six years. He could be admired in one way, but the old fellow is a fool. Not that I would call him that-God calls him that.
In Luke 12, Jesus tells of a man who had great plans for his farm, made all the preparations, calculated all the risks. Only one error-he had left God out-had no time to think of Him. He is called a fool. Why? Because he prepared for life but did nothing, thought nothing, about eternity. What’s eternity? That’s the longest journey you’ll ever be on. When your life here ends, timeless eternity begins. Ever thought about it? Made preparations?
Somebody gave me this acrostic for the word “Bible”:
Basic
Instructions
Before
Leaving
Earth.
Could I encourage you to dust off the old Bible and turn to John 3? Now see for yourself just what Jesus says about eternity, about being ready, about being born again, about our sins and God’s judgment, about His disdained love.
It’s all there, and more. Think ahead—be ready!