when i was eleven, the rapture took place.

or at least i thought it did.

i had just finished reading the last few pages of one of my comic books, and decided to go see what my mom was doing.

the family room was empty. so were the kitchen and laundry rooms. after searching the entire house, i started to panic.

i had recently learned about the rapture at church and wondered if it had just happened.

fear crumpled my stomach. what was i going to do? all my friends and family were gone. i was left alone to face the horrors of the world.

i felt abandoned. finally after i’m in full freak out mode, my mom walked in back in the house. she didn’t make a special trip back, she had simply been out in the yard.

i went to a church that was quite fascinated with studying the end times.

my pastor had invested years of his life in developing this huge chart that collected the prophecies and predictions all in one place. my mom even volunteered, and added some of her artistic skills to it, along with others.

so needless to say, i grew up hearing lots of predictions of what would happen.

no, we weren’t one of those churches that said Jesus would come back on a specific date. but we were people who did believe He was coming back.

maybe even soon.

where would the antichrist come from?

how would the “mark of the beast” be introduced?

and with every new invention, or every new leader, we were wondered if that person or that item would be the catalyst to usher in the end times.

that was over 30 years ago.

one would think that would jade a guy. like all of that was fiction, and shouldn’t even be on my mind.

but here’s the deal—it is on my mind. i don’t know the details of how/when some of the end times prophecies in the Bible will be fulfilled—i’m not even sure what all of them are.

but one thought i can’t let go of is this . . . the world is changing really fast.

things are crumbling.

systems we’ve depended on for years are no longer able to bear the weight of our current status.

the weather is nuts.

i’m not sure the world is going to get better.

i don’t know who the antichrist is—the end times figure who will appear like a great hero at first but bring great persecution—but i do believe the world is ripe for a leader who can come in and start offering solutions to every problem.

i don’t know what the mark of the beast will be—a system of currency that will be required to buy anything—but i do know that currencies are collapsing, and someone who can offer a new, worldwide currency that is strong and will resolve the current economic crisis will be well received.

i don’t know when Jesus is coming back. i don’t know if the rapture will happen before, during or after a time of a great trial.

but i can help thinking that this world is groaning in pain, and something, anything could happen to set off a really, crazy chain of events.

i’m not going to obsess about it. i’m not going to watch the evening news looking for clues.

but i do think there is an end coming.

i’m not sure what it will look like.

but regardless, i know that i can trust the One who orchestrated every moment since creation.

and that His promise to never leave me or forsake me will not be forgotten.

contents on this site are © 2012 tim walker. all rights reserved. i would be flattered if you would like to publish this content somewhere. just contact me through this blog.