My friend Paula is an expert on “end times” information and yes, with all that is going on in the world today, you can read a lot into the question “are these the end times?” I am not an “end times” expert…and have not delved deeply into all the scriptural information on the subject as she has, so I listen but don’t let it worry me too much. As scripture says “even the angels in heaven” don’t know.
But certainly in northern Alberta there are obvious signs around of change. Someone once said to me “you can smell the money in Grande Prairie, when you drive in.” And she wasn’t talking about the smell of oil, although it does impact on the economy, but the little town of 8,000 in 1963 has grown to over 53,000. That shows! There are new subdivisions that I have never seen and would probably get lost in anyway. The view from the top of the hill on the west highway is not of a road with a few buildings…it is now smothered in buildings and quiet pastures are now plastered with stores like Cosco and Walmart and all the Shopping areas that surround them.
Good things are happening also…a new Hospital, new Schools and a new Library. Prosperity has its own perks. Churches are bigger (well, the “Praise Parishes” are.) The faithful at Forbes (where I attend) fill their own place in the community, serving the Seniors who sit in the pews and welcoming with open arms those younger families, whom we cherish and watch grow through the years. The little baby my husband once played peek-a-boo with during the service, (I could see him from my place in the choir, and kept scowling at him.) is now a grown up girl. Time marches on and as I count up my years I realize what a blessing to have experienced all the changes in the church, in my home town and in my own family.
A recent email sent me, showed how many American Presidents the Queen had gone through in her years on the throne. I was amazed and then laughed. I too have gone through all those Presidents.
Today I took my morning walk and was just about up to the front door when I heard the call of wild geese and yes, there they were, a flock of about thirty, heading up to the lake.
I have had a bad week… water in the garage (the roofers had messed up) ,my furnace fan wouldn’t shut down and I had been to three funerals in ten days. Yet, the anxiety of these events were washed away as I watched the geese fly over. I smiled. God is always sending me messages and certainly this sign in the sky was telling me that He had ordered my life in a special way for a special reason and as He watches over the birds of the air He would watch over me…he was the author of life and of change and I too was part of his plan.
Photo: “Star Trails over Greith” by H. Raab via Flickr, CC 2.0
