SEUSSCATOLOGY: A light treatment of an important subject
by Carl McRoy | 31 August 2023 |
While daydreamily watching the clouds, so fluffy and so cottony,
From the back of my mind a question broke the monotony,
He’s coming soon, but how soon is soon?
Signs in the sun and signs in the moon,
Signs of famine and signs of war,
Signs of earthquakes—who needs more?
What’s taking Him so long?
It pierces like a pitchfork prong,
They asked it in Peter’s day and ever since,
He said they asked out of preferred ignorance.
Your pie in the sky fantasies,
Golden harps and eternal ease,
Still smoking the opiate of the people,
Aren’t you tired of gettin’ high at the steeple?
But there’s something about the question I must confess,
That burns within my own chest.
What is taking Him so long?
Sounds like I’m singing their song.
But it’s sung to a different tune,
Because I’ve been looking for Him soon.
Soon, but years I didn’t think I’d see continue to pass,
Soon, but hopeful saints are sleeping under the grass.
I don’t want to be classed with skeptics and scoffers,
I want to be faithful and claim all the gospel offers.
But this mystery has me intense,
How long must we remain in suspense?
“What’s taking You so long?
What’s taking you so long?
Is, is there an echo in here?
Kind of, but don’t fear.
“What’s taking Me so long, you want to know?
Your voice is the true echo!
I’ve been asking you for many years,
Pleading your case with countless tears.
What’s taking you so long to repent?
What’s taking so long to go where you’re sent?
“Like Jonah awaiting Nineveh’s demise,
You’re in for a big surprise!
“You can’t wait for sinners to feel My wrath,
But I’m waiting for you to do some math,
For I’ve prepared a golden city with grand dimensions,
Its size will stretch your comprehension,
Not for Me to show off and boast,
But because I’m a generous host,
And want lots of people around the welcome table,
Crowd as many inside as we’re able!
“My New Jerusalem’s borders cover half the U.S.
And it’s 255 times taller than Mt. Everest,
And all this space is to be utilized,
By those for whom I was crucified.
New York and Tokyo are measured by the millions,
Citizens of New Jerusalem by the multiple billions.
“The angels don’t even know the day or hour
So don’t let your countenance sour.
The signs you point to are the beginning of sorrow,
Not the evidence that I’m coming tomorrow.
“My longsuffering is why I delay,
But your head, heart, and hands can hasten that day.
Not because you can make Me come any faster,
But because you’ll lose yourself while following the Master.
Time flies when you’re having fun,
It also flies when there’s work to be done.
“So the next time you wonder when you’ll see Me in the sky,
Just go to the mirror and look yourself in the eye,
And just ask yourself, What does it really mean,
For me to be ready when Jesus is seen?”
If I’m looking for His face in the clouds,
Shouldn’t I see it reflected in the crowds,
Of people rushing up and down the streets,
And those posting and following the reels and tweets,
And what about those with no food in their fridges,
And what about people pitching tents under bridges?
And do I see Him in children with smiles upside down,
Because one of their parents is nowhere to be found,
And they go to school with no lunch for their bellies,
And no friends to play with because they’re so smelly,
And do I remember their angels report to the Father,
When I act like they’re too much of a hassle and bother?
And what about those advanced in years,
Whose wrinkles are records of laughter and tears?
Do I have time for the stories of those topped with gray,
Or do I view them as obsolete and brush them away?
How do I spend my time as I wait,
On Jesus to open those pearly gates?
Am I lifting another’s burdens,
Offering a helping hand to the hurtin’?
And do I gather and carry life’s sunny rays,
To lavish on others on dismal days?
Or does pride in prophecy charts prod me to argue and gloat,
And have me thinking I’m a sheep when I’m acting like a goat?
Answering questions with questions is sometimes God’s way,
Of making me rethink the things that I say.
Now I must change the theme of my song,
From what’s taking Him, to what’s taking me so long?
Carl McRoy is an ordained minister in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, host of Message magazine’s “Your Liberation Library,” and author of Yell at God and Live, R U Tuff Enuff? and Impediments to Power. He enjoys quality time with family, posing as an amateur historian, and shooting pool.
