As we come to the end of the Church year, there are the usual reminders that we are to be ready for the end of all things and, much more specifically, for our own end which can come at any time. The constant warning of Jesus is that death will come like a thief in the night, when we are least expecting it. There are some, of course, who slip away slowly and quietly and have time to prepare but for many, perhaps the majority, Death arrives unannounced. It is a dangerous attitude, then, to have a "Let us eat, drink and be merry, because tomorrow we die" attitude. That was what the people in Noah's time were doing when the Flood struck and when destruction wiped out Sodom. We do not have to go back that far because there have been equally devastating instances already in this decade - 9/11, the tsunami, the destruction of New Orleans. How many of those people were ready? But a far greater number die every day from individual tragedies. All this is not to fill us with fear but to help us realise that the only way to live our lives is to follow the Way of Jesus one day at a time. The future, then, will take care of itself.