When he opened his eyes, his sandwiches had gone. The farmer had seen it all. I am certain that spiritual readiness does not come by obsession with the details of the Second Coming. We can spend all our time speculating about the meaning of 666, Babylon, and the Anti-Christ that we forget the basic building blocks of our faith and discipline. I am not impressed with someone who can quote chapter and verse concerning the rapture and the thousand year reign of Christ if that person is not also regularly attending Sunday School and worship.
Some people substitute a fascination with the Scripture for an obedience to the Scripture.
One minister friend told of two excellent examples of people who were watching and waiting in an appropriate way. Harlin was an older single man who had a lot of ideas about how to use his modest wealth to help other people. He kept trying new things. He paid for flying lessons for troubled boys because he believed focusing on something as demanding as flying would be good discipline for them. He sent children to summer camp, and paid tuition for vocational schools to train young men who were headed for trouble.