Wake-Up Calls

Wake-up call. It's one of those moments when something happens that makes you realize that you need to change. In its most common use, a wake-up call is just that--when someone calls you to wake you up, like the service that they offer at most hotels. But the term can also be used to refer to times when we "wake up" to certain realities and change our thinking or our actions. Sometimes it takes the form of a tragedy that happens to someone we hear about or know and makes us realize that life is fragile and often short. Sometimes it's a serious illness that strikes someone we love and makes us realize how much we appreciate them and causes us to commit to spend more time with them.

In comic books and the movies, "Iron Man" Tony Stark received a wake-up call when he realized that his company's products were being used for evil purposes. In 1941, the United States got a wake-up call that being an isolationist country won't product us from aggressors. In 2001, we received another one regarding the evils of terrorism. In the Bible, Saul received an "enlightening" wake-up call on the road to Damascus. He realized that he had devoted his life to harming the very cause that he should have been promoting. He would later speak in Ephesians 5 about those who are living sinful lives needing to "awake" and turn from darkness to light.

What about you? Do you need a wake-up call? Don't wait for some tragedy to strike to get your life right with God. Don't wait for some loved one to die before you tell them how much you love them.

Have a great week, wake up, and live your life to its fullest for God.

(From the Johnson Street Youth Group Trumpeter, 5/11/08)