Do you feel lucky? Well, do you, Punk?

Woohoo...we're in verse 10.  Let's do this.  Verse 10 says, "And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them."  (Cross ref:  Luke 24:4 and John 20:12).  How incredibly awesome the sight of Jesus being lifted up (vs9) would have been.  I'm sure they were very intently staring at Him as He ascended.  I wonder how long it took them to even realize the two men who were now standing beside them.  I'm sure it would have taken me a minute or two to even feel their presence.  I wouldn't be able to process seeing Jesus ascending into "thin air" let alone two men appearing out of "thin air."
Isn't that like us though?  Clueless as to what's really out there.  We go about our lives, going through the motions and not being able to see what's really in front of us.  How many times has God worked in and through our lives and we hardly even notice...if we notice at all? 
Our lives can be equated to a train wreck thanks to the fall of man and sin entering into the

equation.  So seriously think about it...a train wreck.  What are some expectations of a passenger train crashing?  Cars going this way and that.  People flying around inside the cars.  Cars piling on top of cars.  People dying.  People seriously hurt.  People stunned, dazed, and lost, not understanding what's going on.  Then there are the absolutely lucky ones who come out with barley a scratch.
Life is just like that...a train wreck.  There is death, confusion, chaos, disaster, and those seemingly unaffected.  We should expect the death, chaos, and natural disasters in this life.  So, since we are still on this side of the dirt pile, we should also be extremely thankful that, at least today, we  are one of the lucky ones.  To whom should we be thankful?  The one true God, of course.  :)
Yet, as it usually is, we forget that "being lucky" part, and we are caught staring at the sky not noticing what's right beside us.  We go through tough stuff, sometimes very tough stuff, and forget Who has been caring for us all along.  We think we're the ones driving the train and that we won't ever crash.  We got this.  We're good.  I hear it all the time.  It's only when we get caught up in yet another train wreck that we start looking around at what's really going on.  Then we notice things aren't going well for us and we lash out, "why me?" 
What's really going on, however, is Jesus had been protecting us all along and one rock headed our way got through that hedge of protection.  We chose sin over God.  God's initial intent was for things to be perfect.  We blew that horribly!!  Now, we pay for that choice every day.  God does an awesome job of protecting us, but He can't do everything.  He has to abide by our free will choice of sin over Him.  Sometimes a rock is going to bop us in the head, and sometimes that rock is going to snuff out our life, or that of a loved one.  We really should expect this and thank God each and every day we are counted as one of the lucky ones.  One day we won't be that lucky one...don't wait to get right with God.  Do it today. 

Where will you be left standing?

Vs 9 (And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight).  (Cross ref:  Luke 24:50-51)
Jesus gave His final words to His disciples:  don't leave Jerusalem, wait for the promise of the Father, they were to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, the time of His kingdom was none of their business, they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem and even to the remotest parts of the earth.  Once He have His final instructions, He ascended into a cloud as they looked on.
What a day that must have been.  They were told the Father was going to give them a significant gift of the Holy Spirit, they were going to have power from this gift, and they now were going to be Jesus' witnesses to every single person on the earth.  Then, Jesus leaves them standing there...alone. 


I didn't get to finish my commentary on this verse.  The next post will cover some of this in more detail, so I'm not going to finish it ... for now.  Have a fabulous day.