In a typical day (24 hour period from dateline to dateline) the earth sees about 50 earthquakes as of an hour or so ago, there had been 12.  None of them at 6pm.  None greater than 5.1 magnitude.  If they can call an election before people have stopped voting, I’m fairly certain we can call this one.  Harold Camping is 0 for 2.  0 for 2 won’t kill your career if you are a baseball player — but in the “prophet of the end-times” category it’s most likely an 0-fer that you can’t overcome.  Harold is 89.  He probably won’t live long enough for this one to be forgotten.

So some closing thoughts on this “Judgement Day” series —

1) I’ll be honest, I’m a bit disappointed.  I like change.  Hard to imagine one bigger than the return of Christ.  I stayed up till 1am just to see if anything would happen at 6pm on Christmas Island.  On the other hand, I’m a bit disappointed that I was a bit disappointed.  The apostle Peter said,  (2 Peter 3)

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

I need to have more of God’s patient heart when it comes to the people around me.  There is only one reason Jesus didn’t come back on May 21st, he wants everyone to become part of God’s family.

2)  At the same time, the last few days have caused me to evaluate the depth of my longing to see Jesus.  Can I say like the apostle Paul that I eagerly “long for his appearing.”  I want the heart of God but I also want a heart that longs to see Jesus.  I think the two go together.

3)  I guess you could say that Harold Camping has once again made Christians the hope of comedians all over the world.  I know I’ve laughed.  But according to Peter (2 Peter 3), if we live our lives in the hope of the return of Jesus, we will have scoffers poking fun.  In other words you don’t have to set a date to attract scoffers.  Sometimes I wonder if our lack of scoffer’s is a warning sign rather than a goal.

4)  At the same time, I don’t think that Mr. Camping has lifted up Jesus in all his glory so that He (Jesus) could draw people to himself.  How can we overcome any bad reputation Mr. Camping has given to our Jesus?  Keep our eyes on Jesus.  It’s even more about being connected to him, than it is about living like him.  Spur one another on to love and good deeds — all the more as you see the day approaching.  Hebrews 10:23-25

That’s our assignment for May 22 and following.