A cyclone hits Myanmar (Burma) and kills 200,000; a 6.8 magnitude earthquake rocks Tokyo; a major volcanic eruption in Chile. Scenes from a doomsday blockbuster movie? Not quite, as all three occurred in just the last couple of days. The death toll in Myanmar is staggering.

When disaster strikes we are often reminded of those apocalyptic versus from the Bible, like Mark 13:8

“For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.”

Combine these natural disasters with conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and headlines proclaiming food shortages, one can’t help but wonder if we are approaching fulfillment of end-time scripture. While it is possible we are, Matthew tells us that only God knows for sure:

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”

- Matthew 24:36

We can’t be certain, we can only speculate. Every generation since Christ’s ascension has believed that His return was imminent. We can learn a couple of lessons from history: (1) be spiritually prepared and ready for Christ’s sudden return. (2) But continue to plan and prepare to live out the rest of your life as though He wasn’t coming in our lifetime.

The Bible confirms this two-fold approach. First, being spiritually prepared:

“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming… for this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”

Matthew 24:42,44

Second, how to conduct our lives in the meantime:

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

Titus 2:11-14

God’s timing is another dimension than our timing. God will not cut short opportunities for us to share the Gospel of Christ with the unsaved; therefore I believe the Second Coming will be restrained as long as possible… “not wanting any to perish.” Follow up: 2 Peter 3:8-9.