A father arrived to pick up his son after a church youth meeting. As he drove into the parking lot, he saw his pre-teen son by the exit door--completely oblivious to his dad's arrival. The father decided to see how long it would take his son to look around and discover that he was there. Twenty minutes went by before the dad finally honked the horn to get his son's attention.

"Where have you been?" his son asked when he got in the car.

"I've been sitting right here for 20 minutes," his dad replied, much to the surprise of his son.

Do you think we'll be a little like that preoccupied son when Jesus returns for us? Oh, we won't fail to see Him when He comes back. He'll make His presence abundantly clear to us. But are we so busy with the details of life that we are not looking for Him and preparing for His arrival? Or are we watching--eager to see Him come?

It's not easy to keep focused on the return of the Lord. We have so many things to take care of that we push Christ's return to the back of our minds. If so, "Let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober" (1 Th. 5:6).

To be prepared for Christ's coming, we need to be actively watching--and ready.  — Dave Branon