“God, you were in the beginning, and before. You will also be in the end, and beyond. As you intended the beginning, you intend the end. You are I AM, ever present. While all things began from you and will end in you, at present all holds together in you.

You are Alpha and Omega, beginning and end. You don’t tell us how things will end. You don’t tell us when. You simply tell us to live with temporality as our baseline, urgently and intentionally knowing that one day the end – either by our own death, or by your return – will come / is coming.

You tell us how to live urgently. In Matthew 25 you warn us we will be waiting – for a long season – for your culmination.  What do we do while we are waiting? 1) We keep alert and remain prepared with “oil in our lamps.” 2) We leverage our resources for a great return to deliver to you. 3) We care for the broken and needy because they are your representational presence until your imminent presence arrives.

Father, the end is coming. We don’t know when or how; but we trust you. All the while, we are waiting, but not passively, frantically or fearfully. We wait deliberately. We trust you with our own endings and we can trust you with the world’s ending. And while we wait, we work with Jesus!”