Amazing Video!

There are funny YouTube videos and there are visually amazing YouTube videos. This visually compelling video falls in the latter category. This short montage of surfing, skydiving, skiing, cliffjumping and so much more, is as entertaining as it is visually stimulating, all packed into less than 3 minutes. These thrill seekers have Incredible guts and what a rush they must experience! I envy these guys but I must admit some of these dudes are way crazy sick to do some of these stunts! 

It's 2012!

Now that the presents have all been opened and resolutions broken…it may be officially time to look at your calendar and realize that-

It’s 2012! (Cue the creepy music.)

We may have had visions of sugarplum fairies dancing in our heads in 2011, but now this long awaited and much speculated year has people losing sleep over galactic alignments, planetary collisions, and the mother of all doomsday Armageddon predictions happening on December 21st, 2012.

And all because the ancient Mayans had an obsession with counting…

You sneaky Mesoamericans!

To make a lonnnnng story short, 12/21/12 marks the end of the 5th cycle in the Mayan calendar that spans around 5125 years for each sequence. So take the unprecedented ability of the internet to spew disinformation like a manure spreader in a windstorm and the money making motivations of experts in paleobabble and astrocrud - and voila! We have officially birthed widespread concern and even debilitating panic.

In reality, 12/21/12 is not the end of the Mayan calendar any more than December 31st, 1999 was the end of the Gregorian calendar. The next day just starts a new cycle of numbers, which is why on January 1st, 2000 none of the “cats and dogs living together” nonsense came true, and that’s also why on December 22, 2012, life will go on just the same as before.

Let me illustrate…to show you how *significant* this day will be, in your mind count to 10 with me:

1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9…

10!

Didn’t it just FREAK YOU OUT when you reached the number 10???

No, because it’s just a number that starts a new cycle of numbers - and so is December 21st, 2012!

Oh, and coincidentally, there are no Black Holes or Planet X’s on a collision course with us. There are no rare alignments or convergences happening, and for sure you can laugh off the 2012 movie theory where the earth’s core superheats and sends us scrambling to China to get on those mega-ships so humanity can survive. Except why are they loading them with giraffes and gorillas when we really can’t EAT THEM!? Is no one saving any seats for pigs or chickens?

So the bottom line is this. Don’t waste an ounce of energy or a millisecond of time being concerned about the 2012 hoax. It’s a dressed up and overhyped reboot of “end of the world” predictions that have been around as long as crazy, rabid squirrel folks have been allowed out of the nut house.

This is not to say, though, that the world won’t someday end. Nor should we ignore predictions that come from a source that has verified fulfilled prophecies numbering in the hundreds. I’m talking about the Bible of course, which gives us the most clear headed and sensible approach to all the “last days” chatter:

But when the Day of God's Judgment does come, it will be unannounced, like a thief. The sky will collapse with a thunderous bang, everything disintegrating in a huge conflagration, earth and all its works exposed to the scrutiny of Judgment.

Since everything here today might well be gone tomorrow, do you see how essential it is to live a holy life? Daily expect the Day of God, eager for its arrival. The galaxies will burn up and the elements melt down that day—but we'll hardly notice. We'll be looking the other way, ready for the promised new heavens and the promised new earth, all landscaped with righteousness.

So, my dear friends, since this is what you have to look forward to, do your very best to be found living at your best, in purity and peace. Interpret our Master's patient restraint for what it is: salvation. (2 Peter 3:10-15, The Message).

God’s Word predicts the end of this world with a clear and very certain terms: judgment …disintegration …fire. But please, my friends, don’t get bogged down and freaked out by the sweeping and apocalyptic language that lays out how it will all go down. The point of Biblical prophecy is supposed to be a wakeup call for those choosing to ignore God’s gracious offer of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. It is also intended to be a steadfast hope for Christians who know that the end of days means the beginning of eternity in the new heaven and new earth, face to face with our Savior.

So as the fabled year 2012 unfolds for you, redirect all the stress and apprehension that the speculative crackpots have cooked up for *bank*, and channel it into “living at your best, in purity and peace” - a lifestyle that means eternal treasures.

And when you do, your friends will take notice that you are as calm as an eye in the midst of this hoopla driven hurricane. What a great year for us to live as though Jesus died yesterday, was raised from the dead today, and will come back tomorrow.

Forget the Mayans…remember The Cause of Christ!

The 2012 hoax/hype opens up a door for spiritual conversations as wide as the Milky Way. End times fears can be preyed upon by the swindlers, or they can be prayed for to bring an awakening for the gospel. Take some time and think about how God might use you this year to help people find peace through Christ in the 2012 trepidation and then start a conversation this week with someone who needs Jesus.

by Dare to Share