Are You Ready Yet?

“Ready? Go!”

I started typing as fast as I could, hoping I wasn’t leaving a trail of errors on the page. How much pressure can they add? I had enough to worry about. After all, this test would determine my salary working for this temp agency, the salary that needed to support the two of us during our last year of seminary. My nerves got the best of me. My test came back at one of the lowest levels.

I knew I could do better. So I went to my next interview, determined to show my true abilities. The same electric typewriter model mockingly dared me to redeem myself.  Another tiny room set my heart racing and my fingers trembling. But this experience was totally different.

“When I hear you typing, I’ll start the timer. Take your time to get ready.”

Those calm comments produced a word count that doubled my previous effort! I was declared a senior typist with a salary that would keep our heads above water for the coming year.

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When I’m getting ready to go out for an evening, I set aside enough time to be sure I’m not keeping my husband waiting. It doesn’t move me along any faster to hear him keep asking, “Are you ready yet?”

Actually he was the one who wasn’t ready when it was time to go to the hospital for the birth of our third child. I was out the door and in the car with my suitcase in a matter of minutes. But he had taken this birth in stride and hadn't prepared for the big event. First he had to drop a check off at the church for a youth outing scheduled for the next day. Also the gas gauge was nearing the empty mark. With a forty mile drive ahead of us, we couldn't afford not to stop to fill up the tank. Well, ready or not, this baby was on its way!

I do like to be ready. I want to be on time. When I was growing up, my family seemed to be late for just about everything, especially church. If we arrived during the opening hymn, that was considered prompt. I was determined not to continue this habit with my own family, but it was a struggle many Sunday mornings, especially with three children to shoo out the door. Even today, when it’s just myself to get ready, no matter how early I get up, there are last minute things I’m doing right before I leave the house. Things that sabotage those efforts to be on time.

Living in California, we need to be ready for earthquakes. But the real threat is fire. We hear public service announcements on a regular basis telling us how to be ready for any number of emergencies. It’s exhausting to keep up with all of the preparedness requirements for disasters.

Is it really possible to be ready for everything that might happen. After all, “things” are just going to show up in our lives. They don’t need a reason, an excuse. So how can we possibly prepare for it all?

There is one thing I hope I'm always ready for. It's when someone asks me what I put my hope in (1 Peter 3:15). This means I'm ready to tell anyone who wants to know that I put my faith, my trust in the saving grace of my Lord Jesus. That I put my life and my future in His hands.

It’s not the readiness of this earthly life that is most important. Being ready for my Lord isn’t making sure everything is neat and clean in my life. Ready isn’t worrying about doing everything right and just sitting around afraid to move because I might mess something up. If I’m thinking this way, I’ll always have one more thing I feel I need to do before I go. Before I’m ready for the Lord Jesus to take me home to heaven.

But I know what He’ll say when I see Him face to face. I'll see his smile and feel His gentle arm around me, assuring me He has everything ready, everything prepared:

“It’s okay. No more cleaning. No more getting ready. No more need for forgiveness. Quit looking in the closet trying to decide what to wear. I’ve got your perfectly spotless outfit all picked out. Let me help you put it on.”

Leaving my guilt at the cross,

Christine#