There’s a lot of chattering going on about the unblemished red heifer, the last of the pomegranates, dates, and persimmons heralding the nearing end of the Israeli harvest season, and debates about which calendar marks the true Feast of Trumpets – whether to go by the Babylonian calendar, the 4th Century Hillel calendar, the Julian calendar? The Gregorian calendar of today? The Essene calendar, constructed from the dead Sea Scrolls? The discussion swirls around the question, “When exactly is the 7th month. . . biblically. . . before Jesus was crucified and the calendar ran amuck?”

“Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest.” ~ Leviticus 23:39

Some conjecture it’s this month, some the end of November, beginning of December, which is the end of Israel’s harvest-time – and it all ties in to the Feast of Trumpets, which is considered to be type and shadow of the rapture of the church (For example, Passover: Christ crucified; Feast of the Unleavened Bread: Christ’s burial; Feast of First Fruits: Christ resurrected; The Feast of Pentecost: The Pouring Out of the Holy Spirit; Feast of Trumpets: Rapture of the Church; Feast of Atonement: Second Coming of Jesus; Feast of Tabernacles: Millennial Reign of Jesus). The result is, well, a lot of chatter, a lot of conjecture, a lot of looking for the signs.

Unusual rain events bringing unusual devastation, fires, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes, hurricanes. . . another category for the chatter about the signs of end-times. Do you check the earthquake app? Maybe I should ask instead, “Do you have an earthquake app?” I do, but that’s just part of the information gatherer in me.

“Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth.” – Revelation 16:18

Turkey is doubling its troops in Cyprus, alliances are being built between Russia, China, North Korea, Iran. . .

“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of sorrows.” ~ Matthew 23: 6-8

True, these signs aren’t new. The world has experienced them for thousands of years. . . but Israel became a nation in 1948 and that changes everything.

“Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, She gave birth to her children.” ~ Isaiah 66:8

“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors!” ~ Matthew 24: 32-33

I could go down that rabbit hole of signs – and get lost in them, obsess over them. When I was much younger, I would probably even live in fear of them. There’s a difference between obsessing and heeding. Yes, heed the signs, but do not let that distract you from the most important thing: relationship with Him.

Remember the wise virgins? The ones who prepared their lamps, filled them with oil (Matthew 25: 1-13)? The five wise virgins had filled their lamps with oil. The five foolish virgins had lamps but neglected to fill them with oil. A lamp without oil is like reading the Word of God without relationship with God.

His word is the lamp, but time in his presence is the oil. His word without relationship is a lamp without oil. Our eyes must be trained on Him. That only happens as we draw near to him, spend time with Him – reading the word, praying, talking with Him, praising and worshipping Him our daily.

The virgins without the oil? The door was shut to them. Owning the lamp was not enough. Relationship was needed.

But there’s more. . . so much more. . .

Boaz, the kinsman redeemer marries Ruth, the redeemed, after all the wheat/barley has been harvested. He doesn’t marry her until all the harvest has been brought in – that’s when Boaz returns as the bridge groom, just as our kinsman redeemer, Jesus, comes for His redeemed only after the harvest has been brought in.

Boaz and Ruth are a type-and-shadow of Christ and His church. He will return for his church after the harvest, which is what Boaz did. He returned for Ruth having redeemed her.

Do you remember who brought in the harvest in the story of Ruth? Ruth helped bring it in.

The servant in charge of the harvest told Boaz when he asked who she was, “And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came and has continued from morning until now, though she rested a little in the house.”

Boaz knew who harvested in his field, noticed so much so that he knew when a new worker toiled in the fields. He knew all who worked in his fields bringing in His harvest.

Boaz didn’t just notice. He gave her guidance, “Then Boaz said to Ruth ‘You will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women.  Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them.’ ” ~ Ruth 2: 8-9

He didn’t send her far away. He asked her to glean in the community where she stood, where she worked – that’s where she would find what was hers to harvest.

He knew she loved well the people circumstances of life had given her, honoring her mother-in-law, caring for when there were other opportunities in other cities, other fields.

“And Boaz answered and said to her, ‘It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before.  The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.’” Ruth 2: 11-12

Planted where she’d never planned to be, doing work I imagined she’d never have to do, she worked hard in the field in which God placed her. She went out every day during the harvest, gleaning, gathering in the wheat/barley – gathering each stalk close and making sure not a stalk was lost. She gleaned an ephah of barley a day, which is about six galloons.

A farmer does not want the rain to come before the harvest has been gathered. I imagine those serving the farmer in the fields don’t want the rain to come before they’ve gathered in the harvest, either – at least, a worthy servant. If storm clouds gather on the horizon – and weather signs alert those working in the field that rain will soon be upon them, do they not turn their eyes from the horizon and work furiously to gather in the harvest before it is too late?

They don’t cry out, “Hurry rain. Come so that we may rest. It’s so hot out here.” They don’t say that because so much of value would be lost – in their wages and in the profit to the farmer.

Should we be standing today, looking to to the horizon at the signs of His coming, hands on hips, calling, “Come, Lord Jesus. Don’t tarry?”

Should it not be so with the church in the harvest field? Should we not be in the harvest field, reaching for each stalk not yet gathered and brought into the store house? Should we not be working in our communities to save as many as possible before it is too late? Should we not focus on saving an Ephah’s worth of souls a day? In God’s warehouse, an abundance of treasure (souls) does not diminish a treasure’s worth. God’s love is so beyond our concept of bigness that his attention and affection is not diminished by the amount of people to love.

The bride groom separated the ones who had relationship with him from the ones who did not (the virgins with lamps with oil and the ones with lamps without oil). The farmer similarly collects the harvest only to separate the wheat(that which is full from relationship with God) from the chaff(that which is empty of relationship with God) – which happens only after the harvest has been collected. The five virgins who waited unprepared were not allowed in. The chaff was thrown out of the storehouse.

There’s a lot of chattering about signs and end-times – a believer’s rumblings like storm-clouds to a farmer. Yes, watch. Be aware. Maybe those rumblings are God urging us to save as many of his lost children as we can, the easy to love and the hard to love. Bring them to the warehouse.

A storm sure seems to be brewing, rattling, shaking on the horizon. My cry is, “Just one more, Father – before the storm comes. Just 10 more. . . Let me bring in 100 more. . . 1,000 more. . . . ” and working frantically at gathering them until the storm is upon us and the doors to the storehouse are closed.

Maybe you’re wondering how? Some days I wonder how I can do that. It seems easier to pick up a field full of wheat than try to save one soul. I decided it is intentional connection. Intentional reaching out – and risking rejection. Maybe it’s one prayer at a time – over a cup of coffee, in the crying section of a Wal-mart aisle, in a walk-about in your neighborhood, on the side-lines of a soccer field practice, in a bumping-into-an-old-friend moment, with a stranger as your kids – or grandkids – play on the playground. Maybe it’s as simple as sharing a hotdog and prayer. Where ever your daily takes you!

Where is your daily taking you this week? Start there. There’s storm clouds on the horizon. The harvest is ready.

(I will be picking back up on my Elijah’s Mantle series. This was on my heart and I just couldn’t shake it off. Below are a list of posts where I’ve previously wrote about planting seed, watering and bringing in the harvest.)

Soulcombers for Broken Shells like Dry Bones
Saving the Toxic Tulips of the Field
Where are the Lost Lambs: Lessons from Samson’s Mother
Which Sheep are Mine to Feed
Feed My Lambs
The Lamb Who Thought He Didn’t Need a Shepherd
The Runaways Hope in a God-Made Ladder
A Mother and Her Masks: The story of the Prodigal’s Mother
The Lessons Found at Ms. Judy’s Mailbox
The Old Man in the Garden

Remember Me Monday: #145 Link-up

“I’ll make a list of God’s gracious dealings,
    all the things God has done that need praising,
All the generous bounties of God,
    his great goodness to the family of Israel—
Compassion lavished,
.    love extravagant.”
~ Isaiah 63:7, The Message

In the Old Testament, God repeatedly, quietly and loudly, tells his children, “You have forgotten me!”  (Jeremiah 3:32, Ezekiel 22:12, to name a few). It’s a heart cry from a father to a child who has forgotten all the love, all the saving, helping, little and big blessings – and it leaves me stunned when I realize our Father, the creator of the universe, who knows things I cannot begin to fathom, who authors storylines that leave me amazed, delights in all of us so much, He cries out, “Remember Me.”

While every day is a Remember God Day, I am inviting you to join me on Monday mornings to come by and remember what God has done for you, for your family. Maybe God sent a cardinal darting out in front of you, as if to tell you, “I’m here,” or broke a child’s fever after you laid it all down at His feet in a 2 a.m. bedside vigil. Maybe He stood with you in the wait of a prayer sent out, or brought someone you loved to Christ. Maybe He healed your broken heart, gave your courage, or you gave Him your dreams as a love offering only to have Him give them back in an unimaginable way. Maybe God helped you survive to bedtime after a crazy Monday, or forgive yourself for missing it with your kiddos –– Whatever it is, let’s Remember Him. . . in a “Remember Me Monday” love letter.

“My mouth will tell of your righteousness,
Of your salvation all the day long,
Though I know not its measure.
I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign Lord”
~ Psalm 71:15-16.

Let us delight in Him by telling the  stories of what He’s done!  If you wrote a blog post remembering what He’s done for you, join the linky. If you didn’t but still want to praise Him for what He’s done – write it in the comment section. Then visit a comment before or after yours! One of the beautiful things about the blogging community is the relationships it builds!

Rules?  Write long or short, a list or a story, include photos or not. Just Remember Him and what He has done, and let the gratitude of your heart guide you. Let’s make Monday so Rejoice, that the goodness of God spills into the rest of the week! (Link opens Mondays at 6 a.m.)

Places I’m Linking at This Week:
  Instaencouragements, Legacy Link-Up, 
Let’s Have Coffee Wednesday 
Recharge Wednesday, Scripture & a Snapshot
Grace&Truth, Sweet Tea & Friends
The Good, The Random, The Fun