If we consider what people thought years ago about life in the future, we realize how hard it is to know what's ahead. For instance, what if everyone had believed the patent office worker who, in 1899, said, "Everything that can be invented has been invented"? Or what if folks in the 19th-century had believed this memo from Western Union: "The telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication"?

Predictions about the future are usually bad guesses. When I was a kid, I read science magazines that said that by the end of the 20th century we would all be flying around in air-cars and living in domed houses.

One source for what's ahead, however, is never wrong. It's God's Word! The Bible has reassuring words for those who "believe that Jesus died and rose again" (1 Th. 4:14). The apostle Paul gave us the comforting words that "the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout" (v.16). Christ will return to gather together all those, both living and dead, who have placed their faith in Him. "And thus we shall always be with the Lord," wrote Paul (v.17). No matter what's ahead for us, we may with certainty "comfort one another with these words" (v.18).  — Dave Branon