“…you do not know on which day your Lord will come.”
We’ve all had those days we did not see coming.
The day the doctor gave unexpected news… the day a baby arrived a week early… the day a judge finalized the divorce… and the day you stood at a grave and wondered what comes next.
Life is filled with those surprise days—some beautiful, some heartbreaking, some absolutely bewildering.
For example, I once planned a perfectly timed, carefully organized trip… only to arrive at the airport and discover I was at the wrong terminal… in the wrong concourse… with the wrong suitcase. That was an “Advent moment”: a reminder that I really do not know the day or the hour… or apparently the airline.
But those moments are exactly what Jesus is talking about.
Advent is not just a church season—it describes the way life really is: unpredictable, surprising, and filled with things we can’t control.
Every year, the First Sunday of Advent gives us a Gospel that sounds ominous. We imagine the end of the world. But Jesus never says the world is ending. He simply says life comes at us unexpectedly.
Look where it happens in the Gospel:
People are eating, drinking, getting married, going to work. In other words—ordinary life.
That’s the real “apocalypse”: not the end of the world, but the moments when our world shifts—when plans turn upside down, when life surprises us, when we face uncertainty and don’t have the answers.
We certainly know what that feels like today. Read the news: uncertainty everywhere. And inside our own lives? The same.
So the question of Advent isn’t, “When will the world end?” The question is: How do we live faithfully when we don’t know what’s coming next?
The poet John Keats called it negative capability—the ability to live with not knowing. To stay open, to stay patient, to stay grounded, even when we don’t have answers.
That’s what Jesus means by “Stay awake” and “Be prepared.”
Be prepared for what?
I can’t tell you. Jesus says no one knows.
But I can tell you this:
Be prepared for your life—as it unfolds, surprises, shifts, breaks, and heals.
Because every moment matters.
Every surprise contains grace.
Every disappointment holds a lesson.
And God shows up in them all.
So this Advent:
Stay awake. Be prepared.
Not for the end of the world—but for God already arriving in your world.
God is in the wonderful surprises.
God is in the unexpected detours.
God is in the simple, ordinary moments.
And God is even in the moments we wish we could skip.
Don’t miss a moment.
Stay awake. God is here.