As parents, we spend nine months preparing for a baby. Then we prepare them for kindergarten and elementary school. Before they finish elementary school, we begin preparing them for middle school. More and more, middle school is becoming a time of preparing for high school, which in turn is preparation for college. Of course, all along the way we are preparing them for adulthood, marriage, parenthood, how to help them prepare our grandchildren for ...

Teachers spend most of the semester preparing their students for the final exam that comes at the end of the semester. Students spend considerable time every semester preparing for those same exams.

Employers spend large amounts of time and sums of money preparing their employees for the job they have been hired to perform. Workshops, seminars, and training sessions are designed to help prepare workers to be better workers.

Coaches work late into the night viewing tapes, and reviewing last week’s stats in preparation for the next game. Players work to correct their mistakes, improve on the fundamentals to enhance their performance in the next game. Fans become armchair quarterbacks, coaching experts and offer suggestions on how next game can be better than the last.

Churches spend years planning to reach their community for the Lord. Months are spent on preparing for mission trips. Extensive plans are developed and huge amounts of money are collected for projects and buildings that are designed to help expand the borders of God's kingdom. Training programs, classes, and specifically designed promotional efforts are conducted to prepare us to share the good new with the people next door.

It seems that I am always preparing.

I have now spent six paragraphs preparing for what I really want to say. With so much time spent in preparation, when do we get on with what we are here to do? When will parents enjoy our children? When will our children enjoy being children? When will teachers and students enjoy being in school? When will work become fulfilling and enjoyable? When will a sport be just a game? When will Christians begin to tell our story?

Jesus spent three years preparing twelve men to change the world. He then turned them loose empowered with the Holy Spirit to go about the work of changing lives. The disciples spent those three years preparing their hearts and lives for what God had planned for them. The New Testament writers left us letters to prepare us for the work of carrying on the mission of the Lord.

Preparation is necessary and wise. It is foolish to tackle a project without proper preparation. But eventually, the preparation must end. Remember that Jesus reached the point when He said, “It is time.” At the end of the gospels He told them, “Go.” Eventually we must get on with the work. Eventually preparation time is over.

Maybe it’s time.

 

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Title: "Always Preparing"
Author: Tom Norvell
Publication Date: October 23, 2003

Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, The Resurrection, and The Mission of the Church by N. T. Wright Wright convincingly argues that what we believe about life after death directly affects what we believe about life before death.

Tom Norvell is the author of "A Norvell Note." He ministers at the Hermitage Church of Christ in Hermitage, Tennessee.

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