Unless you’ve been in a coma, you’ve felt it by now. Perhaps you’ve even experienced it. Maybe you’re in the depths of it. It’s impacting every sphere of influence: family, religion, business, media, entertainment, education, government. What is it? No one really seems to know. For at least two years, the staff at the YWAM base nearest us felt something big was on the horizon, but there was no clarity about what “it” was. The prophetic voices in our circles also sensed something “big” was on the horizon, but – again – no real clarity. Time only made these rumblings louder. Then 2020 hit.

It’s like the scene in Ghostbusters about “the big” on the horizon – Spengler (the nerdy one) explains that if a Twinkie represents “normal” then their current situation would be a Twinkie 35 feet long, weighing 600 pounds. What did that mean for them? They weren’t sure, either. But that’s what we’re looking at – something big on the horizon.

Some voices in the Church in America want to say that 2020 was the something big – “we weathered the storm, now let’s get back to normal!” That attitude to me is like feeling the Titanic hit the iceberg and saying, “whew, that was close, let’s go back to dinner!” The events of this year – global pandemic, rioting in the streets, economic and political upheaval, wars and rumors of wars (sound familiar) are like the initial pains of childbirth. I was listening to a webinar this week and one of the hosts – who was pretty clearly not a Christian – said that we are experiencing “the shaking before the waking.” When Christian and non-Christian voices begin to line up on the same message, that should make us take notice.

Even in the midst of our own ministry and those surrounding us, there seems to be such a great stirring, but little in the way of clarity about what that great stirring actually means. So what do we do in the midst of this tumultuous uncertainty knowing that something big is coming? I think it comes down to three things:

• Know Jesus
• Know the purpose for which He made you
• Walk out that purpose wherever you are

I think we take for granted that we know them or that we are doing them, but it’s time to pause and really evaluate those things in our lives. If we know Jesus, what does our daily relationship with him look like? Do we know the purpose that God created us for (hint: it’s not to achieve the American Dream)? Are we daily living in our God-given created purpose regardless of where we live or what we do for a living?

The times in which we live are tremendous – they are filled with opportunity and transformation – and, honestly, I would not want to live at any other moment in history than this one. The activity of Holy Spirit is so widespread and so pronounced and His invitation to us to come and join Him in what He’s doing is so tangible and immediate that we must seize it with every bit of passion we can muster.

There is a time that is upon us – the “big Twinkie” – and a threshold we’ve crossed as humanity and especially the global Church. The harder we try to reach back across that threshold to get “back to normal” the more ill-equipped we will be for the future and the more devastating the blindside will be when “the Twinkie” finally hits us. In my next few blog posts, I will talk about the three things I feel like we need to let go in the Church and the three things we should embrace for the future – stay tuned!!