Responding to a sermon I preached two weeks ago about religious signs on rural roads, someone said to me on the way out of church, “The sign I remember seeing was, GET READY TO MEET GOD." We had those signs in Kentucky, too. As we think about building a highway from Chaos to Christ this Advent, we would do well to hear again the words of the prophet John, who encouraged us and warned us to GET READY TO MEET GOD.

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." For nearly 400 years the prophets had been silent. There was no word from the Lord. People were left to do their own thing and find their own way. Now, looking a lot like Elijah of old, John packs them in down by the Jordan River, baptizing people in the w…