As Bill and Bea rounded the curve in the road at Bent Creek, Virginia, they were startled to see dozens of large trees uprooted and lying in the mud with their huge roots pointing in every direction. Then they noticed a lovely little home, the back of which had been crushed by the raging water-driven mud. They stopped to take a picture.
As they stood looking at the damaged house, they saw a lady standing nearby whom they hadn’t noticed before. Bill turned to her and said, “It’s so very sad. I wonder if the people were able to get out?”
“Yes,” she answered. “This is my home, and five nights ago my husband and I were wakened by a loud banging on our door and a voice yelling, ‘GET OUT! GET OUT! THE FLOOD WATERS ARE COMING!’ We quickly got out of bed, and before we were fully awake we saw the water rising so quickly it began to fill our first floor. We raced for the door and barely made it outside to higher ground before the wall of water, wildly surging down the creek, tore away the side of the mountain, throwing down all these trees and throwing mud with such force it crushed the back of our house.
“I couldn’t bear to come until now to see the damage. I’m going to try to find my watch and wedding ring. They were on the table right beside my bed, but I didn’t have time to pick them up that night.”
One day soon the Lord Jesus is going to come even faster than that water. “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead [whose sins are forgiven] shall be raised incorruptible, and we [believers who are still alive in this world] shall be changed.” 1 Corinthians 15:5252In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:52). There will be no warning for those still lost in their sins. They will be left behind for God’s judgment. Those of us whose sins are forgiven will be safe in heaven before that awful time comes. Are you ready if Jesus should come today? Are your sins forgiven?
How thankful that lady and her husband were that the driver of a semitrailer truck had seen the wall of water rushing down the narrow creek behind their house and ran to waken them before it was too late. And right now we desperately want to awaken you to your need of running to a place of safety. David tells us what he did in Psalm 61:22From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. (Psalm 61:2); I will “cry unto Thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” And 1 Corinthians 10:44And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:4) tells us, “That Rock was Christ.” All of us are sinking in the muck of our awful sins. Each one needs to run to Christ for safety. He loves us and died for us so that you and I can have our sins forgiven. God will not allow even one sin in heaven, but He made a way to rescue us: “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7). Not one stain of sin is left on us after we come to Him for cleansing.
The lady continued telling her story to Bill. “Yes,” she said, “we were so thankful to get out alive. Just two years ago the floods buried my sister and her husband so deeply in the mud their bodies were never found.”
ML-12/12/1993