Given December 23, 2008DC Talk sings, “I wish we’d all been ready.”, referring to the state of humanity at the second coming of Jesus.  Of course we all need to be ready; to give our heart to Jesus and live our lives for Him.  Being ready, I think, means more than a one-time thing.  We must strive to be prepared every day so as not to miss an opportunity, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:” 1 Peter 3:15.  Remember the disciples who couldn’t cast the demon out of the boy?  (Matthew 17) Jesus told them that kind only came out by prayer and fasting; you had to be prayed up and prepared.  The disciples obviously wern’t.  We not only need to be ready for the second coming but be ready each day for what God may have planned for us.Think of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  Do you think she was ready?  You know, she wasn’t praying for God to send the messiah to earth through her.   But God knew who she was.  “And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.  Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.” Luke 1: 28,30. Whatever Mary had been doing had gained the favor of God; she was ready!We don’t know what God has planned for each of us, but there’s something.  How sad it would be if God scours the earth for someone to do something for Him and He looks at us and says, “No, we can’t use them this time; they’re not ready.”  I encourage you, as we celebrate the first coming of Christ, to be ready for His second coming AND the time in between.  Be blessed!