Season's Greetings

It is hard for me to believe it is less than a week until Thanksgiving. We will be heading to Georgia for the holiday. My husbands family is very large. Both of his parents come from families with 12 children. Instead of trying to get everyone together for Christmas, they have a HUGE Thanksgiving dinner with all the family. Typically we have about 75 people gather at the family home. So, every year, that is our destination. It is wonderful to see all the cousins catch up, see how much children have grown, and just for everyone to spend time together.

I have not EVEN started Christmas shopping yet. That is very unusually for me, but we just haven't had the money. Every time I look at the shopping list I made I get anxious, but I know it will work out.

This weekend should be quiet. We don't have the kids so we plan to get a few things done, but mainly rest, relax, and snuggle. I don't like the short days of winter, but I sure love the perfect snuggle weather at night.

We had an interesting dilemma this week. Apparently, my stepson has been talking with his mom about his fears about the Rapture. His mother is Methodist and honestly, quite ignorant about most Biblical things. A few nights ago she said something to the effect of, "Your church is filling his head full of nonsense about this Rapture thing."

We finally discovered that he had just heard another kid at church asking questions.....over 3 months ago. Far be it from me to understand how a kid's brain works and why this has come up now. But, we did research to show him that there is nothing to be afraid of. He seems to be OK now. He thought when/if it happened we would all be swept up to heaven and separated to never see each other again. The problem is going to be, as the kids grow older, the differences in what our churches teach. I guess we will just take it one step at a time.

Below is what I prepared to give to his mom so she will have any idea of what we told him....also for her own knowledge. I hope it sounds ok.....

The Rapture.

The term comes from the Latin verb rapture, and the Greek word harpizo, both meaning "to be caught up" or "to be snatched up." Jesus will "snatch us" out of harm's way.

The word "rapture" does not occur in the Bible. The concept of the Rapture, though, is clearly taught in Scripture. The Rapture of the church is the event in which God removes all believers from the earth in order to make way for His righteous judgment to be poured out on the earth during the Tribulation period. The Rapture is described primarily in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-54. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 describes the Rapture as God resurrecting all believers who have died, giving them glorified bodies, and then departing the earth with those believers who were still alive, who have also been given glorified bodies. "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever" (1Thessalonians 4:16-17).

1 Corinthians 15:50-54 focuses on the instantaneous nature of the Rapture and on the glorified bodies we will receive. "Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed" (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). The Rapture is the glorious event we should all be longing for. We will finally be free from sin and in God's presence forever.