Black Friday, day of the apocalypse

I'm not a doomsday believer; I don't really think the end of the world is right around the corner. I will, however, acknowledge there seem to be more strange occurrences in the world; more earthquakes, crazy weather patterns, and the like. These slightly tie in with what is written in Revelations, but then again it could just be the fact that we have more access to wordly news than ever before.

However, as I was watching a video last night of some Black Friday shoppers ripping through a Walmart display to get some sort of ten-dollar game/movie "while supplies last" (extra literally) I had this thought...

How "appropriate", per se, would it be that some Black Friday in future would be the day Jesus would come back to earth. I mean, how (almost) funny would that be?

We don't really have a huge understanding of God, and mine is certainly nothing to write home about, but I just imagine God observing the Black Friday catastrophes and saying to himself "This isn't what it should be like."

And on a side note, is it just me or did Black Friday get WAY out of hand this year? Stores pushing up their opening-times even more than before, just to get that extra dollar. This year aside, when did Black Friday become what it is today? Either I wasn't paying attention, or my memory is correct, but I don't remember it being this nuts when I was younger. We've all heard the stories of people being trampled to death just to buy a TV for 75% off, and this year alone some of my favorites were: person gets shot outside Walmart in attempted robbery to take his Black Friday purchases (sadly, the shopper was shot, not the robber), people ripping apart the Walmart display, the woman who sprayed pepper spray at fellow shoppers so she could get the deal first, or when gunfire erupted outside of a store in North Carolina. I don't think anyone was hurt there, but someone fired shots in the sky to distract people.

But back to my God assumption. With all kinds of things like that happening across the country, I just don't see God saying "Good job, people. Buy those TVs!" I mean, it's not technically the Christmas season, but for most people this day is the big day of Christmas shopping. Yet, despite all the Christmas-y feelings in the air, Black Friday brings out the worst in people, not the best. Once in a while you will find a diamond in the rough—a person who is not just thinking about themselves, but about their fellow shoppers too. But, like I said: rare. Extremely rare.

This morning our first reading was again the reminder that you do not know the time, nor the place when the Lord will appear, and you should be on watch at all times for that day. Yes, our God is a loving and forgiving God, but to me it would seem so appropriate for him to return the day after Thanksgiving while many are caught up being selfish, being the first to buy their big TV.