Rude Awakenings and Real Assignments

I am not sure what comes to your mind when I say “Rude Awakenings.” Thanks to “YouTube,” you can experience a whole internet channel dedicated just to them. They include things like molasses and pillow feathers, hot sauce on the lips while sound asleep, air horns and silly string, being Saran wrapped to your bed at midnight and hot wax on a hairy shirtless man while sleeping on his belly. 
When I was going to Philadelphia College of Bible, I used to share an apartment with five other guys. We all had a roommate named George who we terrorized only because his biggest crime was being such a heavy sleeper.
After he shared his, “Good Night,” his faithful friends would spring into action. George was treated to rude awakenings in places like the Student Center, a nearby Pathmark supermarket, the local Penndel train station and the middle of the campus parking lot.
Because he couldn’t stay awake, he never knew what would be happening to him in the wee small hours of the morning.
Some of us today are going to wake up in places that we don’t want to be only because we have become apathetic and comatose to all that matters most.
We have allowed the culture to lull us to sleep, and while we snooze, we lose the choice to take some matters into control. This is why the Bible shouts to us in verses like Revelation 3:2 “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.”
Jesus rose from the dead and not so that we could sleep in and throw the covers over our heads.
Jesus rose from the dead to show us what we would miss if we aren’t aware and alert and right behind him as he leads the way.  
When Mary and the apostles got the rude awakening that Jesus didn’t stay dead and that there had been a resurrection just like the Lord promised there would be, they weren’t just given a progress report.
They received purpose and fresh new marching orders. We have been given the same assignment.
Believers, this is no time to be napping. This is the time to be noting that if we ever had hoped to practice following the Lord as our rightful leader, the moment is now!  
Eternal life is not about a quantity amount- counting the sum of your days. It’s a quality of life that happens inside of us because the minute we enter into an eternal relationship with Jesus, the one who is the Way the Truth and Life will be just that inside of us. Wherever you may be no matter whatever you may see.
Wake up, Christian, and stop hitting the snooze button. Do you know who wants to lead you around today? Do you know who is willing to show you the wonder you would miss if you stayed determined to wander around on your own?
I want to talk today to everybody who needs hope.  Your past doesn’t have to define your present and steal your tomorrow! Jesus wants to be your tour guide. And what better to understand the reasons why you were created than to be able to hang out with the Lord who created it all.
There is a wonderful scene in the movie “Saving Mr. Banks.” It is the story of Pamela Travers and the great Walt Disney and the perseverance and patience that it took to get Mrs. Travers, a cantankerous woman who is very sad because of a stormy past, to surrender the rights of her beloved creation Mary Poppins so Disney could make a movie about her.
Things are not going well because Mrs. Travers refuses to let go and surrender, and even smile. She is definitely punishing herself.
She has allowed her guilt as a little girl of not being able to rescue her father, the real Mr. Banks, to literally suck the joy out of every day.
Walt Disney is beside himself because he doesn’t know what else to do to get through to her, so he does something incredible. He invites P.L. Travers to spend the day at DisneyLand with Walt Disney himself.
Can you imagine being able to spend a day at DisneyLand with Walt Disney himself? Can you imagine sleeping in on a day where you got that kind of invitation? Can you imagine the magic of that day because you would learn and see things that you would never know if the Master, Creator and Designer were not there to point it all out to you?
Jesus is giving us the same invitation today. Wake up and walk this wonderland called Earth with Him.
We were made to live for so much more and with Jesus inside us, and beside us, there is a whole new world to see. As the song in Disney’s “Aladdin” sings, “A whole new world, don’t you dare close your eyes.”
You have a longing to be loved, to be known fully and completely, and to utterly and perfectly be loved in a way nobody on this earth can offer. You have a longing for healing to be set right that no therapist in this world can give you. You have a hunger for meaning that no mere achievement on this earth can bestow. God has placed eternity in the human heart. We know better. 
You don’t have to believe in the Bible to see this. Look at the pyramids.  Visit a nursing home.
The Bible says the reason God has placed eternity in the human heart is that we were made for an eternal existence with him. That’s not just about its duration or its length, but it’s also about its quality. Eternal life is life with God every moment, and the most important thing we’re doing in this life is to prepare for that life that is going to come.
Maybe you really need hope. Like a bigger, deeper hope. Not something glib and superficial. You need to tell him. Maybe you’ve never really resolved the issue of where you’re putting your ultimate hope, and maybe this is your day to say, “Jesus, I want that to be you. I want to make that commitment to have you be my forgiver and my friend and my leader.”
Maybe you have some questions, some things you don’t understand, and you just need to make the decision and say, “I’m going to get really serious about searching and exploring. I’ll make that commitment to stop closing my eyes to the God who is standing right in front of me.”
My roommate, George, couldn’t stay awake and he never knew where was going to wake up one day. Don’t make that mistake especially when you can be safe and secure in Jesus today.
Rude awakenings lead to real assignments that would be missed if we continue to snore when we were created to soar. Wake up!
ED. NOTE: The author is senior pastor of The Lighthouse Church, 1248 Route 9 South, Cape May Court House.