BIRD FLU! BIRD FLU! BIRD FLU!

There, now I've gone on and on and on about it too. The world is all aflutter about the possibly coming bird flu pandemic that threatens to make humanity sicker than many of us already are of hearing about the bird flu. Once it was the sky falling that caused everyone to worry, and now chicken little himself is the one who threatens to do us all in. Experts from every corner of the world are offering up their commentary and advice concerning this threat and so, not be left out, I will too - prepare to meet your God! 

Now, please don't take my saying so as fear mongering or doomsday panic in the same vein of that which left egg on the faces of many Christian leaders when their obviously uninspired Y2K predictions disappeared at the stroke of midnight. My advice to prepare to meet your God is based on a more pragmatic reality: everyone is going to die. For the fact remains that cancer, car accidents, and carousing will kill lots of people before the bird flu (or whatever the next pandemic is) does. For all you know, this could be the last thing you read before some pilot has a heart attack and lands his plan on your lap. One never knows, so prepare to meet your God! 

By the way, while I'm on such a cheery note, I also want to encourage followers of Jesus to prepare for the moment that holds the event that will send them off to meet God. Get a grip people! There was a day when one of the strongest testimonies of the reality and power of salvation through Christ was an uncommon fearlessness in the face of death. Christians thrown to the lions and burned at the stake in Rome sang to God in their last moments which resulted in more new Christians being born in the stands of the coliseum than were dying on the field. Take note: this same conversion effect will not be duplicated if our most daring response to the Bird flu is to horde Tamiflu pills while our neighbours cough their way into a Christless eternity. 

The world is full of ways to die and apparently keeps coming up with new ones regularly. That's good to know so you can PTMYG - Prepare to Meet Your God!

Pastor Tim Davis, Copyright 2005
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Pastor Tim has retired from pastoring local churches and is now working alongside his wife to help refugees and persecuted Christians.

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