I am writing this post at 3:55 AM…

Why, you ask, am I up at 3:55 AM?

It all started when for some reason, I tuned over in bed and looked at the clock…

It was 3:30…

No need to be awake at 3:30 AM…

I closed my eyes and turned over to go back to sleep.

“Did you hear that?” asked my wife.

“I didn’t hear anything.  Go back to sleep.”

“There it is again!” she said.

This time I heard it…A very loud, short screech…

sounding like a combination of the howl of an angry cat and the electronic protest of a dying computer…

“It’ll go away… go back to sleep.”

My wife mumbled about chivalry being asleep if not dead…

We were quiet…

Sleep approached…

it sounded again…

We both sat up, looked at each other, got out of bed and walked into the hallway…

Silence…

I turned back toward the bedroom…

It screeched again…

“A smoke alarm!” said my wife.

Smoke alarm?  Why would it only make noise every few minutes?

“It’s the battery!” I said.

Which alarm was it?

Turning on the lights, I walked from smoke alarm to smoke alarm, standing under each one until the screech erupted again…

“No not this one… maybe the next one….”

Then I found it!

The offending alarm was on a high ceiling…

I needed a ladder…

First take the alarm off the ceiling….

Now disconnect it from the electricity…

It was still screeching…

Permanent damage to my hearing seemed only moments away…

I removed the battery…

In mid-screech, the alarm went suddenly, abruptly silent…

Beautiful Silence…

But I was definitely awake…

And so I sit at my computer at 3:55 AM, writing a post about warnings.

Warnings that come at inconvenient, unexpected hours…

Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.  Matthew 24:44

Warnings that come while we sleep …

“Awake to righteousness, and do not sin” (1 Corinthians:15:34).

Warnings from a God in whom we find safety and refuge and peace because He is always with us…

…he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. Psalms 12:3-4

Warnings from a God who loves us…

Warnings meant only for our protection…