Off the Rails

God showed me something interesting while at church on Sunday. I saw a cluster of beach houses, like you might find in The Outer Banks, a beautiful stretch of barrier islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North Carolina. Each vacation house was 3-4 stories tall, and three of them were in my field of view, side by side. They were a weathered gray color, and had exterior stairs, balconies, and decks. I could see the ocean off in the distance. Little people were congregated on the stairs and balconies, talking with each other and enjoying the warm weather of their holiday at the beach. Life was good.

It was a nice scene, but something was really odd. I noticed that the houses rested side by side on a couple of rails running parallel to the street. The rails reminded me of train tracks, but further apart-- maybe 1/3 the length of the houses. The middle third was supported by the rails, and one third of the house cantilevered over the rails at each end. I knew the houses were not actually attached to the rails, they were simply resting on them-- carefully balanced. There were no pilings. The houses were held in place simply by gravity. I knew in a moment that their situation was precarious. I could see the ocean in the background. It looked normal. But I knew that when a hurricane comes, the storm surge will raise the base ocean level by 8-17 feet, plus eight foot waves... A wave will come along and lift those pretty houses off the rails like a surfer on a surfboard. Just one good wave would do it.

But what did it mean, really? What do I do with this? What came to mind when praying about this was the phrase:

"Collapse is Coming."

In the vision, I could not see a storm on the horizon but I knew it was coming. It wasn't visible-- wasn't imminent-- but it was still coming. But what kind of storm would it be? Economic? Political? War and famine, right here in our homeland? I have heard it said that God uses the language (both visual and verbal) that resonates with a particular listener. I am a retired dockbuilder. I spent nearly two decades of my life working on the water, and I am constantly checking the sky. I am a waterman, and so God often uses storm imagery with me. When you work on the water and the sky is threatening, you might suddenly feel a cool breeze kick up and you know the wind has been chilled by the rain and the storm is almost on you. It is time to go! God used this "language" another time with me when I was in a dangerous situation. I felt in my spirit the winds kicking up like at the start of an incoming hurricane, and I knew I had to get out of there. It was past time. I needed to move! Another time, God showed me a scene of a fine restaurant where the flood waters had risen up to the windows of the second floor dining room, but diners were just continuing their conversations as through nothing was amiss. They were just like the people in the vacation houses at the beach. They were enjoying life without a care in the world, but their situation was PRECARIOUS.

As I was thinking about the imagery of the rails the beach houses were sitting on, the phrase "Off the rails" came to mind. I think we get that expression from the railroads. Once a locomotive hits an obstruction and gets derailed, everything else comes along with it. The train goes off the rails and the rail cars pile up on each other like a jumble of toothpicks. It's a huge mess. It has become such a part of our culture that the term "train wreck" no longer refers to railway accidents but instead describes lives and situations that are unmitigated disasters. The beach houses in the vision were so pretty, but they and the owner's lives were going to go off the rails when the storm hit.

Matthew 24:37-39 comes to mind:

"No one knows the day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage, up to the day Noah entered into the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That's how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man..."

Do I think it's the end times? No, I don't. Not just yet. But I'm not a theologian. I'm just sharing what God showed me. The next obvious question is "WHEN??? When is the storm coming?" I can answer that. I don't know! But this leads to the next question. "How do I prepare?" There's a two part answer. Physically? Ask me later. Spiritually? There's only one way to get ready. In Matthew 27: 24-27, Jesus said:

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was built on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain came down and the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against his house, and it fell with a great crash."

Our lives can be going great-- blue skies and life's a beach! But then bad things happen. Divorce, death of a loved one, loss of a job, a serious accident or illness, or a house fire can change everything and our lives have now gone off the rails. This happens to people every day, just not to us, right? Denial doesn't negate the reality of storms and their broken aftermath. It happened to me, it will happen to you, and I believe it will happen to our society corporately. That's why I saw multiple houses in the vision. Our comfortable pumpkin spice latte lives are going to get up-ended, derailed, and overturned, so brace for impact!

But how? How do you get ready for when life goes off the rails? By building a strong spiritual foundation through an intimate relationship with God. How is that? By talking to him, reading the Bible, and sharing your life with him. Think of a cute older couple who have been married for 50+ years. How did they get there? They committed to each other and they put the time in.

Sometimes a young woman will ask me, "How do I really know he loves me?" There's an easy answer. Love is clearly shown not in gifts, money, or poetry, and definitely not though sex. Time is the most valuable thing we have. How do you know he loves you? It's his time. If he is really into you, he will not be able to stay away. He just can't help himself. That's what God wants from us-- our commitment, and our time. The more time we spend in his presence, the greater our peace when our lives eventually do get derailed.

Make the time now.