In October 2022 my daughter Jane, who works at ‘Glasgow Life’, was asked to welcome King Charles 3rd to the re-opening of ‘The Burrell Collection’, on Glasgow South Side, after a £65m refurbishment. She had spent 7 years working on the project and now the great day was in sight!

The King, on his first official visit to Scotland as monarch, was the icing on the cake and Jane looked after him for over three quarters of an hour showing him some of the highlights of the collection.

The final preparations for the King’s visit, to ensure everything went smoothly, were detailed, long and arduous. Security was enormous and there was even a last minute panic when Jane left her position to attend to something almost immediately before his arrival! Finally, everything ran perfectly and it was a brilliant day.

How different it will be for each of us on the day we meet the King of the Universe, whether it be on His return or at our death. We can’t prepare in advance the same way as Jane did by getting everything spot on. However much we try, we cannot do all the work needed by ourselves; we all fall way short.

The hard and essential preparation has already been DONE FOR US BY JESUS who left the glory of His heaven to be born as a man and willingly to accept our just deserts for falling short of God’s standard, thus enabling us to be set right with God. Our preparation, our part, all we can do, is to acknowledge our shortcomings before God and turn to Him through Jesus putting our faith, our trust and our hope in Him for today and for eternity. So please, may each of us

‘BE PREPARED to MEET the KING’.

Dave Rowlands