If you were given a chance to know what happens in your future, would you take it?

This morning, I was reading a website that asked the following question:

“If you were given a chance to know what happens in your future, would you take it?”

How would you answer this question? On the website I was reading, most people answered that they would NOT want to see what happens in their future. You can view approximately 100 people’s answers to this question at this link: http://www.plinky.com/prompts/875/answers. There are some interesting and strange answers.

I know myself well enough to know that I could not walk away from the opportunity. A lot of people responded to the question by saying they would not want to know because they like the surprise of life and to see your future would be a story ending “spoiler” or like knowing what a present is before you unwrap it. I am just the opposite. I don’t like surprises. I have been known to unwrap gifts (and rewrap them) just to find out what my present is before Christmas. After Steve started double taping and secretly marking the packages, I had to resort to tricking my children into telling me what I am getting. I guess one of my mottos could be, “Why wait when you could find out now”.

I could not turn down the chance to know what happens in the future. To have the opportunity to see how my son’s health is going to be in the future is something I really want to know. I want to know that he is going to be ok and that Ulcerative Colitis did not derail his promising future. I would like to know if the treatments that we have chosen helped (or hurt) him. Some days not knowing his prognosis really gets to me. Some days, the “unknowns” to this disease drive me crazy. I WANT TO KNOW THAT HE IS GOING TO BE OK.

When I sat down to write this post and really started thinking about this question, I realized this questions didn’t even apply to me. I realized that I already know what happens in my future. I already know what the long term future holds. God has so graciously allowed us to see glimpses of what our future holds in the Bible. I am very thankful for the time this morning to think about this question. It was exactly what I needed to be reminded of today. Lately, I have been spending countless hours researching and studying Stephen’s disease and it has left me nothing but frustrated and confused over the 1,000s of different opinions on what causes Ulcerative Colitis and treatment options. I need to focus on what I know and leave the rest in God’s hand. I know that I know that I know His word is true and He has an amazing future in store for those that love Him. Whatever my son’s medical outcome is, I know the long term future. I know that he loves Jesus and has trusted Him as his Savior and the beautiful verses and promises below belongs to him, me and you if you are a follower of Jesus:

Luke 13:29
People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last."

John 14:2-3
In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Isaiah 25:8
He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth.

Revelation 21
A New Heaven and a New Earth
1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
The New Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb
9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia[c] in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 17 The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits[d] thick.[e] 18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.[f] 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Thankful that He holds the future.
Kelly