Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, Okeechobee, Florida
It’s moving day. To a land far, far away. Five hours and 242 miles to be exact. Plus a 30 minute stop at a rest area because the Wendy’s there was extraordinarily slow! I think they had 3 people working at lunch time, and the girl that was at the counter when we arrived, went on her lunch break! Then we were down to two! It was really busy too! Let’s just say it’s a good thing we got in line when we did!
Due to the long drive and the fact that we really can’t arrive in the dark, we had to miss returning to the church we were at last week. Instead, we visited The Chapel via their website and listened to Pastor Mike give his opening to his new study – – Revelation. Now we’ve heard Mike teach this book twice already when we attended a video study The Chapel offered – can’t remember the name of it. (Actually, the video did the teaching, and Mike expanded on it.)
This time, he’ll be doing the teaching.
Since it’s been a week since I heard the message, I’m resorted to sharing my notes with you.
- Mike said he wants this study to build us up, not make us afraid or uncertain.
- Don’t let it become just an academic study. “I don’t just want your knowledge to increase, but your love to increase because of your knowledge.
- It’s the only apocalyptic book in the New Testament. There are several in the Old, including Daniel and Ezekiel, etc.
- Apocalypse means “revealing”
- There are several views as to the time of the events in this book. One is called “prederest” meaning that these things have already happened when Rome destroyed Jerusalem between 60-70 AD. Mike says, “No. It hasn’t happened yet.” One main reason is because the apostle John wrote Revelation in the 90’s. Also a guy named Polycarp was a historian and a student of John’s.
- This book should move us to Hope! Jesus’ coming back should be joyful! It should be filled with anticipation! This is an example he gave: It should feel like a child waiting for his father to come home. If he’s not anticipating with joy, then something is wrong – either with the father or the child. Either the father is mean-spirited and brings bad things into the house, or the child is intentionally doing bad things and knows consequences are coming. We know our Father is not mean-spirited. If you’re not anticipating, it’s most likely because you’re intentionally doing bad things. Stop it!
That’s the end of the introduction. Blaine and I are anticipating with joy! What about you?
The drive was fairly uneventful. That’s a good thing! For Blaine, though, it was pretty windy and blowing steadily against the driver’s side most of the way. He had to fight for control so he was pretty exhausted and stiff when we arrived.
So as we drove into the Park, I’m looking around at…… nothing. And I’m wondering what new and marvelous things could we possibly find here?
And it’s blazing hot! 85 degrees today! I don’t do hot well. And we also have no satellite, which means not much in the way of TV, but somehow, we managed to get NBC on the antenna. That means we can watch the Olympics, but only live, so only when we’re awake. We can’t record it.
But keep a stiff upper lip, Terri! I’m convinced God has something incredible here, just like everywhere else.
After we set up, I started laundry. It’ll take a while because there’s only one washer and one dryer. 😊
Meanwhile, Blaine took over the laptop and watched the Daytona Clash.
After dinner, we took a walk around the place. Blaine says we now have a Big House on the Prairie! LOLOLOL!!
We didn’t see much, but look! There’s a rainbow!!
TOTAL HIKING MILES: 1
Year to Date: 137
Daily Average: 3.26