Verse of the Day - 1 John 2:28

And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame. ~ 1 John 2:28 (NLT)

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Here's a scenario I'm sure you've experienced: You're tooling through the local grocery store of your hometown, when you look up from the bottle of ketchup you were staring at, and down the aisle you see an old school friend, and think to yourself, Oh, my gosh! It's...uh....lemme think...um....Jeremy something-or-other....or is it Justin? Gee, I haven't seen him in AGES! But because you can't even remember his name for sure, which is really embarrassing in your eyes, you put down the ketchup bottle, quickly turn your cart in the other direction, and hope you don't bump into him at the checkout line.

Or worse yet, you lose contact with a good friend. Life being what it is, with all the busyness of it all, the friendship falls by the wayside. And then one day, you see them at the mall or some other random event, and there's a huge awkwardness -- neither really knows what to say, with so much nothingness between you for so long. Small talk ensues, and you part, saying, "We really need to get together soon and catch up!" But the reality is that it probably won't happen, as the connection was lost a long time ago, and it's a lot of work to get it back.

John tells us, Don't let that happen with your relationship with Jesus. Don't risk that dreadful awkwardness when He returns for His people. Keep the ties strong so that you welcome Him with open arms, and He you.

Can you imagine wanting to quickly turn your shopping cart in the other direction if you saw Jesus at the end of the grocery store aisle? Would you want to put on your dark sunglasses and head for the "quick-check" 10-items-or-less counter, so you could get outta there fast?

I pray you can stay connected with Jesus daily, with open, honest communication -- friend to friend -- so that seeing Him won't be a shock, but a joy!

Hey, I wonder if Jesus is on Facebook... :-)

Love,
Joelene