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Dear Friends, Have you ever been to a book signing? I’d never been to one before, so I was very excited when Jerry B. Jenkins, co-author of the best-selling Left Behind series, came to a local bookstore for a midnight book signing on August 5th (the day Assassins, the latest book in the series, came out). My dad and I got to the bookstore an hour before it opened, and even then there was a long line of people snaking around the shopping plaza. It was a huge event; a truck from a local TV station was there when we pulled up, and I could see a reporter and a cameraman interviewing some of the people waiting in line. An hour and a half later, Dad and I met Jerry B. Jenkins and had our books signed. It was worth it. Jerry B. Jenkins was so nice, and we had the notoriety of being among the first people in the world to buy the new book! Then, after another hour and a half in line, we were able to buy the books and go home and read them. Now we can’t wait for the next book to come out! We had a lot of fun. Before a friend got me into the Left Behind books, I’d never given much thought to Biblical prophecy. I had opinions on the subject, sure, but they weren’t informed opinions. The Left Behind books got me curious; I wanted to know more. So I started studying the subject, reading books on prophecy and reading the Bible in a way I never had before. My faith has been strengthened by my quest; I’ve learned amazing things about the Bible and its prophecies, about its accuracy and reliability. But the most important thing I’ve learned so far, I gleaned, not from a prophecy, but from a parable. In Matthew 24:42-51, Jesus told a story about a master who went away, leaving the servants in charge of his possessions. "Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming...Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes...the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know...” When Jesus returns, it will be a surprise. No one, despite all their study and speculation, knows when He will return! But it shouldn’t make a difference to us if Jesus returns tomorrow or five hundred years from now. It shouldn’t change our actions. We should spend each day as if it were our last. We should be faithful to the work Jesus has given us to do, and not shirk our duty like the lazy slave in Jesus’ parable. Faithfulness is the lesson we should learn from prophecy. God will be faithful to fulfill His promises to return...will we be faithful until that day? Eagerly awaiting the return of our Lord,
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