The 11th Hour

           Everything is set.  All the preparations and planning have been completed.  Everyone has arrived at the church and they are all seated.  In just a few short minutes the organ will start to play and the bridesmaids will be walking down the aisle in advance of the bride and groom.  The 11th hour has arrived. 

           The conference room is prepared.  Coffee has been made and donuts have been ordered for the break later on.  Co-workers are filing in with their departmental fiscal reports.  You stayed up late last night polishing your report up.  If it "flies", the budget for your department will allow you and those you oversee to lead the company in a new direction over uncharted waters.  The CEO steps into the room.  The 11th hour has arrived.

            You just suffered a severe heart attack while mowing out in your yard on a nice Saturday morning.  As you lay there grabbing at your pain wracked chest, sweating profusely, while looking up at your wife and kids who are hysterical while waiting for the ambulance which they have called, you suddenly realize that the 11th hour has arrived.

           At the 11th hour at the wedding either the bride or the groom can still walk away if their heart suddenly tells them that what they are about to do just isn't what they should do.  In the conference room, the CEO can, at the 11th hour, cancel the meeting for a week so that more thought with fresh data could take place to make next years budget more realistic. 

           At the 11th hour, as you or I are laying on that grass out front as a result of an unexpected heart attack, do we have time in those next few moments to get it right, get right with God, un-do all we have done in our lives, so that we might spend our eternity with Him in Heaven?   Will there even be that opportunity in those few brief moments as thoughts of what the future will bring for our wives and kids without us as the EMT's begin their frantic efforts to save us?  Will we even think about it, or is the 11th hour too late?

           When the time comes for us to leave this earth, especially since we have no idea at all when that 11th hour will come, aren't we rather silly not to have our spiritual house in order well before that hour?

Bottom Line Thought:  Where are you spiritually?  When will your 11th hour come?  You don't know?  Then, can you face it knowing you are ready?