Acts 1:6-11 - When is the second coming?

Scripture: Acts 1:6-11

Summary: Jesus told the disciples that they won't know the time when he restores the kingdom of God, but they will receive powers from the Holy Spirit and will be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. Then Jesus was lifted up into a cloud. They were told by angels that Jesus would come in the same way as he left.

Thoughts: When I read this scripture I can't help but think of the prophet who has been telling everyone who would listen that Jesus would come back to the earth on May 21, 2011 and the rapture would occur, taking everyone who was worthy up to heaven.  Well, it's now June and I'm pretty sure that the rapture didn't occur or if it did, none of us were worthy!  Now this prophet is saying that he miscalculated and his new date is October 21, 2011. I find myself wondering why people believe in this sort of thing. It says pretty clearly in several places in the Bible that no one knows the time or place and yet several times in my lifetime people have predicted exactly when Jesus was coming (with no serious results). Why is it that we feel like we need to know exactly when something is going to happen? Especially something like the second coming of Jesus? Don't we have enough to worry about without worrying about when this is going to happen?  I believe that we have two choices about how we live our lives. We can spend our lives worrying about when something is going to happen: the second coming, the tornado, our own death,...  Many people spend their lives this way, in constant worry.  Or we can spend our lives making each day count: loving those we come in contact with, praying for others, working to move toward the kingdom of God! What choice will you make? What are you going to do with the rest of your life?

Prayer: God, help me to focus my time today on things that I can change, things that I can do to make a difference in our world! Amen.