Wake Up Call!

“WAKE UP CALL” Psalm 57

INTRO – I don’t know many people who actually like this sound (play sound of alarm clock). These come in all sorts of designs with all sorts of sounds. Wake up to the sound of a beep, the radio, a CD, or the sound of rain, or the pounding surf, or crickets chirping. When you are traveling, you can usually use the alarm clock in your hotel room, or you can call the front desk and get a wake-up call. Used to be a real person who would call you in the morning, but now it’s automated in most places. When you were a kid, or if you are a kid right now, most of your wakeup calls come in the form of mama or daddy coming into the room to get you up. How many times does it take for you?

Whichever it is – the alarm clock or the wakeup call – it signals the end of a night of sleep and the start of a new day. Signals the end of the warmth and comfort of your bed (why is it that your bed feels the best right before the clock goes off?) and the beginning of a day of work or school or whatever you are going to do in the day. Signals that it’s time to get up and get going; it’s time to start accomplishing something; it’s time to make a difference; a new day is beginning.

Last night, 2 boys were tragically killed in a car wreck here in our community. Roman 12:15 – “…mourn w/ those who mourn.” We mourn with the families that are mourning right now. We cried last night at the hospital and we’ll cry more tears today and in the days to come. We will minister to them as the Church should right now. Galatians 6:2 – “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” The word “burden” in this verse means extra heavy and difficult burdens, not your everyday burdens. This is definitely an extra heavy burden for the families, and as the Body of Christ, we will come alongside them and help bear this burden with them, especially for this who are members of our church.

But I wonder if this will be the wakeup call that is needed to shake us out of our sleep and get us going? I wonder if this will move us out of the warmth & comfort of our own little world, our safe little place, & stir us to action. I wonder if we are going to go through this tragedy (as we have so many times before!!!), come out on the other side of it, and go on with business as usual. I wonder if we will wake up out of our apathy, our selfishness, our “I don’t want to get involved” attitudes, and try to do something in somebody’s life that will make a difference. I wonder if Lawrence County is going to wake up, if the church is going to wake up, if parents and families are going to wake up. Are we going to keep playing these games, playing with our kids’ lives, our families’ lives, our future lives, thinking that nothing is going to happen to us? Went to a Dave Ramsey seminar yesterday – “Total Money Makeover.” He kept making this statement – “If you keep playing with snakes, eventually you are going to get bit.” Are we going to keep playing with the snakes? Are we going to keep going on with business as usual, pretending like everything’s OK, pretending like there is no cause and effect? Or are we going to wake up – TODAY?

TEENAGERS – How many more of your classmates are going to have be cut out of mangled vehicles before you are going to wake up? It’s time for you to wake up! One thing that I have seen in Lawrence County in the last 6 years is that being a sold-out, fired up, passionate, Jesus Freak Christian teenager who will wake up, stand up, and never back up is definitely NOT a cool thing in this community! Teenagers with a passionate love and commitment to Jesus Christ are rare these days.

Saw a Mossy Oak commercial on TV the other day – “How many hunters can you see?” Could not see any at first, just saw the woods. Then they began to wave their hands. There were 3-4 hunters there. But until they did something to stand out, they blended into their surroundings with unbelievable perfection. This community is full of teenagers who are clothed head to toe in camouflage. Not necessarily Mossy Oak clothing, but a sort of spiritual camouflage. Do the church thing. Do the DNow thing. Do the youth camp thing. Maybe even do the youth choir thing. But don’t do anything else that would cause you to stand out as a dedicated Christian teenager.