Seeing signs of Jesus

Riding in the car with your family, you don't think much about how you'll get where you're going. The person who's driving has to worry about watching the signs: stop signs, red lights, signs that say how fast to drive. To find their way, they just read the signs!

Jesus probably would have liked to drive a car. He was always telling people to look for signs; in this week's Gospel (Mark 13:24-32), He even warns us to watch for signs that the end of the world is coming!

"At the end of the world, the sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will fall from the sky," said Jesus. "Then I'll come back and gather all the good people in the world. When a tree grows leaves, you know summer is coming. When you see the signs I talked about, know that God is coming."

Signs tell people how to drive, so they won't have an accident. The signs Jesus talked about will help us stop "accidents," too: If we remember that Jesus is coming back someday and we have to be good for when He gets here, we'll always be looking for the signs that tell us He's coming. Jesus said those signs are the sun and moon getting dark, and stars falling out of the sky.

What if you were in the car, and all the signs around you disappeared? The person who was driving wouldn't know whether to drive fast or slow, how to find the road they wanted or when to stop and let another car go ahead of them.

Sometimes, people stop looking for the signs that will tell us when the world will end someday and Jesus will come back. Like a person driving without road signs, they think they can do whatever they want.

That's why Jesus reminded us to keep looking for signs, especially the ones that say "stop" -- so we'll stop the bad things we're doing, and get ready to meet Jesus!

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK: Jesus, help me to see all the signs around me that help me to be good. Amen!

(11-13-97)

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