Advent means: Coming.

We are soon to enter the season of Advent which is the four Sundays before Christmas.

At Advent we remember the promise that Jesus will return again to the earth , coming from the skies with great powere & glory!

What a great day thet will be, especially for those who love & know Him.

When will it be? Nobody knows! It's 2000 years since He made that promise &it hasn't been fulfilled yet....Which means we need to be always ready, living the way Jesus wants us to and looking forward to that day!

Coming -   Ready or Not!

If you were to go to some places in the Middle East, you would find a very interesting Wedding custom, which is still practiced today. You might see groups of teenage girls, brightly dressed & playing musical instruments such as tambourines,going through the streets on their way to the bride's house to keep her company until the bridegroom arrives for the wedding. this is because the bridegroom comes at an unexpected hour (unlike Western weddings where there is a fixed time & all the guests are ready & waiting.)

He might come at midday or at midnight! When he comes someone goes ahead of him shouting, "Behold, the bridegroom comes!" then the whole Bridal party must be ready to go out and meet him. When the bridegroom arrives, the door is closed & no latecomers are admitted to the ceremony.

Also no-one is allowed out on the streets after dark, without a lighted lamp, while they wait for him!!

So Jesus told his followers this story:

Once there were 10 girls who tool their lamps & went out to meet the bridegroom for a wedding. 5 girls were wise & took along extra oil for their lamps, but 5 were foolish & didn't bother.

When they arrived at the wedding house, the bridegroom wasn't there yet, so they sat down & waited. Hours passed & they nodded off to sleep. Suddenly they awoke to the cry, "The Bridegroom is coming!" In the dim light they saw that their lamps were almost out of oil & about to go out. The 5 wide girls trimmed their wicks & filled their lamps up so that in no time at all golden light was shining from their lamps. The 5 foolish girls realised that their lamps were going out. "Give us some of your oil," they begged. But the other girls had used it all to relight their own lamps, so the foolish girls had to go off in the dark, to try & buy some more oil. When they returned the bridegroom had gone inside for the wedding ceremony & the door had closed shut.

"Let us in," they cried, knocking on the door.... but they were too late! and had missed out!

What is the moral of this story?