The End Will Come – Eventually

The Prediction

I will not be the only one writing about December 21, the day the world is supposed to come to an end, but I have to do my job (if you call writing a blog that earns no income a job). Just this past Sunday a lady pulled me aside after church and questioned me about the Mayan calendar. She said, “I am not afraid to die, but I am afraid for my grandsons. What do you think will happen?”

Well, according to a lot of people who know how to read the writings of a people that could not predict the end of their own civilization, the world is going to come to a cataclysmic end on Friday, December 21. According to the Mayan wheel calendar 12/21/12 will be the end of time (because time ends when one runs out of space to chisel it into rock). Therefore, people around the modern world are running around all crazy planning to die in some horrible, earth-shattering way.

But just in case the world doesn’t end on December 21, 2012, you’re invited to some anniversary celebrations planned for December 22.

You’re Invited!

You’re probably scratching your aluminum foil-capped head and asking, “What will there be to celebrate on December 22?” Are you kidding me? Several parties are planned to celebrate some significant firsts. If the neighborhood is still here, why not join me?

• Corvette Day – Did you know that on December 22, 1952, the first production-ready prototype of the 1953 Chevy Corvette was shipped to New York for the GM Motorama show on January 17? Yes, December 22 will be a day of celebration in honor of the famous fiberglass-bodied icon, and plenty of cotton (glass fiber) candy will be served.

• Taylor Swift Day – On December 22, 2007, Taylor Swift’s “Our Song” went to #1. This unleashed a swift river of hits to flood the market, forcing everyone to admit that wearing a dress is cool (literally and figuratively). In celebration of this chart-topping day I will be wearing a sun dress, blond wig, and singing “Never, ever, ever getting back together!” to a picture of an ex-girlfriend.

• “Dirty” Harry Day – Who would want the world to end before celebrating the beginning of one of the most influential crime-fighters in cinema history, Dirty Harry? On 12/22/71 San Francisco Police Department Inspector “Dirty” Harry Callahan showed us how to go after bad guys with “the most powerful handgun in the world.” In celebration of the release of this movie I will be waving a frozen hot dog bun in the face of my daughter the martial arts expert and saying, “Do you feel lucky, punk? Well, do ya?”

Imminent End

It is highly unlikely that the world will end on December 22, but the world will most certainly come to an end for approximately 150,000 people. According to statistics, that is the number of people that die every day.

If the world doesn’t come to an end this week, or next, what guarantee do you and I have that we will be here to see next year? It is much more likely that you and I will die in a car accident than the world will end any time soon.

Whether it be sooner or later, death is imminent, and we don’t need a carved wheel to tell us that. The Psalmist said, “What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death?” (Ps. 89:48)

The real question is not “when will the world end,” but “am I ready for MY world to end?”

“Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” – Hebrews 9:27-28 NIV

 If the world does end, then somebody else get the lights – I’ve got a Heavenly party to attend.