After a number of lunch conversations and email discussions with my friend Jim Fletcher, founder of Prophecy Matters, I have finally become persuaded that I might have a bit to contribute to this new work of his.

Jim has a great affinity for and connection with the nation and people of Israel and its biblical role; a first-hand, sit-in-your-living-room-and-drink-coffee connection with many influential people there. I work in a country bank in a small town in a rural area. Thus, it has been hard for me to see myself playing a role in this vision of Jim’s. Gently, he has persisted. Jim is like that.

So, here I am at the beginning of what I hope will be several conversations with you. Conversations that take this immense and immensely complex subject of predictive prophecy and look at it from a day-to-day, practical perspective.

How exactly do you take prophecy and make it accessible to the average working mom or dad who is probably so busy they barely have time to read a newspaper in the evening? We’ll see, but to me, that is the question that intrigued me in the first place. I think it may partially explain why as 21^st century Christians we don’t hear or think very much about the subject.

Sure, several million people have read all or part of the Left Behind series. Maybe because it was interesting reading about a subject that is very mysterious and controversial. When it was all said and done, did it do much to change people’s lives? I really don’t know, but if it didn’t it was probably a result of people’s ignorance or apathy toward the subject rather than the subject itself.

Unfortunately, I suspect more folks form opinions about biblical prophecy based on the History Channel’s latest offering on Nostradamus or on a movie like 2012, than from personally searching the Scripture.

So, in the upcoming months I plan to talk to you about how we should consider living in these most interesting times—whether or not it is close to “The End.” I’ll let the experts explain the signs; I’ll just talk about ways to navigate through them with our families, our jobs, our homes, our finances, and preparations.

Oh, and the title…as my family says, “It’s better to laugh about it than cry.”

We’ll talk again soon.

Kevin