have to admit it, I like the whole Mayan end-of-the-world calendar run down idea lot better than some of the more traditional Christian-esque “rapture” scenarios that have been floating around recently.

Most of us remember the Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins “Left Behind” series (it was a marketing bonanza where an imaginative reading of eschatological scriptures resonated with the evangelical world and sold millions of sci-fi novels). Then there was last year’s May 21st Family Radio version of the faith-via-fear coercion scam that – sadly – hoodwinked so many believers.

LET ME COUNT THE WAYS: Of course there are countless ways this world could come to a sudden end:

• We could run into one of those giant asteroids;
• our solar-system could get gobbled up by a black hole;
• some alien force could arrive, Star-Wars Death-Star style, and vaporize our planet in an instant.

SELF-DESTRUCTION: More likely to usher in an apocalypse, however, is our sad and seemingly limitless penchant for self-destruction.

Not only has humankind weaponized itself within a few button-pushes of oblivion, but we treat this planet like it’s made of Kevlar, and as if natural consequences are only for crybabies. Humans have been assigned stewardship responsibilities from the very beginning, yet we’ve consistently passed the buck to future generations so we can grab what we can, while we can, and that means now.

The fact of global warming may or may not be a direct result of our greed, or specific to corporate exploitations, but uncertainty as to the specifics is no reason to thumb our noses at good science on the off-chance that another “generational cooling trend” will save our bacon for another decade or so.

DON’T BE LEFT BEHIND! Better news, though, and apropos for 12-21-12, is the opportunity each one of us has to draw a line in the sand, declare today as “The end of meaninglessness and the end of half-measures,” and embrace the future as if the promise, the peace, the hope, and the grace of Christmas really do mean all that God intended when Jesus was born and ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING CHANGED!

Why not let the calendar run down, and out, on a life that fails to engage all that is possible?

Why not embrace life in all of its fullness (John 10:10)… a new and living way (Hebrews 10:20)… the life that is truly life (1 Timothy 6:17-19)….

Why not live like we mean it – because God most certainly meant it when you were created. What a great gift to give yourself – and the future of this world – for Christmas – DEREK