We've been going through self-isolation with the occasional run to the grocery store wearing masks against the threat of catching the virus. Recently, the government has opened up most businesses, but people are still hesitant to mix among crowds, although not all. Still, some are ill and some dying. More will get sick and die.
We recently experienced severe fires close to our neighborhood. Many homes and outbuildings were destroyed, along with over 8,500 acres, not to mention animal and plant life.
Going back over the year remember the devastation of tornadoes, floods, and yet more fires, all in the US. Yet elsewhere there has been equal catastrophic events. Earthquakes, terrorist attacks, and not long ago a women's hospital was attacked killing patients, healthcare workers, and two infants! Even in east Africa there is swarming of locusts decimating crops. Jesus told his disciples, "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places..." (Matt 24:6-7).
My friends, Jesus is at the door. These terrible occurrences are the birth pains that are coming closer and closer. Matt 24:8 proclaims, "All these are the beginning of the birth pains."
Isaiah 55:6 warns, "Seek the Lord while he may be found..." Pay attention. Seek the Lord.