There was a story posted on a popular political blog about a dog who died in a house fire after alerting its owners of the impending disaster. Jeter, named for New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, was a 120-pound Great Pyrenees “rescue dog,” retrieved from the humane society in Shelby County, Ohio three years ago. Jeter had been starved and beaten as a puppy. His owner, Glenda Moss of Piqua, OH, had lost another Great Pyrenees to illness prior to rescuing Jeter. At about 6:00 a.m. on June 11, Jeter began poking and licking Glenda’s face as she slept. She tried to get Jeter off of her, but she quickly realized that things were not right. Hearing the crackle of fire and smelling smoke, Glenda jumped from her bed and alerted her son David, 19, that the house was on fire. David and Glenda ran out of the house with Jeter close behind. However, for some unknown reason, Jeter ran back into the house. Glenda and David chased him, but the smoke in the burning house was too thick—they could only stay in the house a few minutes. Jeter died. The blog that featured that story is viewed by approximately 23 million people a day. If only half of those people read the story of Jeter’s heroics, 11.5 million people got a small dose of inspiration. Surely a few million of them forwarded that story to friends and family via email. A few million probably told at least one person

Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List dramatizes arguably the greatest tragedy in human history and the greatest act of humanity at the same time. The Holocaust, a term used to describe the extermination of approximately 6 million Jews during World War Two, is taken from two Greek words that mean “whole” and “burnt,” and that is exactly what Adolf Hitler, the Nazi German Chancellor, tried to do for six years—eliminate every Jew from German occupied lands. Prior to the war, 3.5 million Jews lived in Poland, the first country Germany invaded in 1939. Today, there are between 3,000 and 4,000 Jews living in that country. One member of the Nazi party gradually saw that this “final solution,” as it was called, was not just a tragedy of war—it was murder, genocide. Oscar Schindler was a war profiteer. His factory made weapon supplies for the German army. However, as the war unfolded and the torture and murder of innocent Jews continued, Schindler realized that he had the power and means to intervene. He began bribing German SS officers so he could move Jews from the despicable death camps to his factory, where the Jews were protected by Schindler and treated humanely. He made a list of the Jews he wanted, and he got them all. Schindler’s noble endeavor left him penniless by the war’s end. Yet, his generosity paid off. He was able to save 1,200 Jews from certain death. There are more than 7,000 descendents of Schindler Jews alive today. At the

Imagine receiving a letter that contained the following information. The writer is leaving on a vacation. He will not tell you when he is coming back, but he is leaving you very specific instructions. While he is gone you are to water and feed his two dogs, Scarlet and Gray, twice a day. He needs you to clean out his gutters because the weathermen are forecasting storms for the coming week. Finally, you should collect his mail and retrieve his newspaper from the driveway each day. Again, you do not know when he is coming back, but when he returns, these tasks must be completed. Now, imagine receiving a similar letter, but this one gives a definitive date for the writer’s return. You’ll know the exact date and time. All the tasks are the same—no more, no less. Human nature dictates that you will respond quicker to the first letter than to the second letter. If the writer will return at any moment, you will diligently perform the tasks. However, if the writer tells you the exact time of his arrival, you will let your responsibilities lapse until the final moments. In the mean time, the gutters will clog, newspapers will pile up in the driveway, and poor Scarlet and Gray will be hungry and thirsty. In Scripture, Jesus’ Second Coming is compared to a thief who does not announce his arrival. It will be a surprise. Man cannot mathematically calculate Christ’s return (although some have tried). Jesus said, “But