Note: This week's daily encouragement messages (as well as the last two messages from last week) are from a study prepared for our Crossroads Adult Bible Fellowship class this last Sunday based on teaching from 2 Timothy 4:1-8.

Message summary: Life's greatest transition, the time of our departure will come for us all. Are you prepared? Each of us is scheduled for a future departure. Though we don't know the time of our departure we can have an assurance of where we will arrive.

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"The time has come for my departure" (2 Timothy 4:6).

A common sight in airports is the constantly changing departure/arrival digital displays. If you are going somewhere you tend to check the departures. If you are waiting for someone you check the arrivals.

Imagine if we had access to such information for human departures, especially our own. That's a "flight" where we may welcome the "delayed" designation, depending on the circumstances, of course!

If such a site were available it would be the most visited site on the web. Practically everyone would have it bookmarked. What if the online departure board not only stated the time of departure but the destination as well, along with the person's name! We would be interested not only in our own destination and departure but that of others as well, for good reason!

In reality each of us has a future departure scheduled, although we don't know when, we can have an assurance of where. Second Timothy is the final book we have from the Apostle Paul. He resolutely acknowledged that the time had come for his departure (death). I sense such powerful resignation in these words as he went on to say; "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith". (We will consider each of these phrases in the next three messages.)

Most live their life giving little to no thought toward their imminent departure. We are conditioned to live for the "now".  But consider that your life is really but a "mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" (James 4:14). Consider the temporariness of life with this verse: "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall" (1 Peter 1:24).

Transitions are an inevitable part of life. They happen to everybody at one time or another and in one way or another. We do well to accept it. In 2 Timothy the Apostle Paul is writing his final words.  He recognized that life's greatest and final transition, death, was imminent.

Bible scholars believe his martyrdom came shortly after writing this epistle. Although deeply hurt by the falling away of one close associate (Demas), he is confident in the enduring friendship of at least three others (Timothy, Luke and Mark). And most of all he's confident in the Lord's presence and help in his hour of need (2 Timothy 4:17,18).

Some of you, like Paul, know the time is at hand for your departure from this earth. How do you make it through this transition? Like Paul, by having an assurance of God's love and also the love and support of dear people who are there for you. We hope and pray that you have both!

The greatest transition, the time of our departure will come for all. Are you prepared?

Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13