In the cheerful banter on the way home from church, I just had to ask, “OK, so we might be having World War Three and have to bug out to the country any time now, right?”
Dad nodded. “That’s possible.”
“So how can we be so happy?”
It got quiet in the van, and Dad answered, “We can only see the signs of the times, Son. We can’t name the day or the hour, so, in the meantime, we may as well enjoy the time we have.”
Grandma spoke up. “Shalom, Jeremy. Do you know what that means?”
“It means ‘peace,’ I think,” I answered.
“Right, very good. It is the peace of God. It also means completeness. I think God has some special peace for those of us who are here at the end of the age when He completes His plan.”
“What do you mean, ‘completes His plan’?” asked Anna.
Grandma thought for a moment, then answered, “The Bible says God knows the end from the beginning, right, Anna?”
Anna nodded.
“Well, God lets us know a little bit about his plan.” Grandma Gladys began to tick the ways off on her fingers. “We know Jesus will return like He went away. That means in the clouds. No one will pick Him up at the airport. He is coming special delivery, and His feet will touch down on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. This will happen during the battle of Armageddon.”
She held up a second finger. “We know when He returns, all the Jews will see the scars in His hands, and their eyes will be opened, and they will know He is their Messiah.”
A thumb was added to the two fingers for number three. “We know He will come with ten thousands of his saints”—a radiant smile came to Grandma’s face—“to wipe out evil from the world, and then there will be a thousand years of peace.” Grandma looked at Anna. “That’s His plan.”
“But before all that, there are some bad times coming called the tribulation. If we hold on to Jesus, he will see us through the bad times so that we make it to the good times. So,” she finished, “God has given us an extra dose of peace in the troubled time we live in.”
We began to feel some of that peace fill the van. Smiles appeared on faces. Dad started singing “Peace, Peace, Wonderful Peace” and everyone joined in.
We felt God’s sweet Spirit all the way home.
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