A Prodigal's Path

“Did you hear that?” . . . “Nope.”

     Sometimes . . . there are just those "silent times" . . . when my mind and pen are quiet. When my heart and soul seem content and I can't think of a thing to say or write about.

     That used to bother me as in all the silence I would feel God had somehow left me and I would become lost in my distractions. I think I now see it as "emerging time" . . . time when He gives us room to rest, grow, and take it all in. Time to collect our thoughts and inspirations . . . a "season" perhaps? And then I remember:

A Time for Everything

    For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

    a time to be born, and a time to die;

    a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

    a time to kill, and a time to heal;

    a time to break down, and a time to build up;

    a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

    a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

    a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

    a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

    a time to seek, and a time to lose;

    a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

    a time to tear, and a time to sew;

    a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

    a time to love, and a time to hate;

    a time for war, and a time for peace.

(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ESV)

      And there is a time to ride motorcycles . . . to fly free across open roads and grind it out through mountain passes . . . to feel the heat run over your boots. That's just not today as it's a balmy 9 degrees and there's easily a foot of hard-packed snow on the ground . . . No, today is not that day . . . but it's interestingly quiet in here . . . inside my helmet . . . as I think about the seasons of our lives and faith . . .

 

Truth Is . . . I’m Dying . . .

I was recently watching a documentary of a film shot in 1905 in San Francisco. Aside from being enthralled by the signs of the time, and now antiquated relics of the day, the commentator began throwing out facts and statistics about 1905. One that shot like an arrow into my grey matter and brought me to an attentive position was "The life expectancy of a man in 1905 was 47." I turned 47 today. If this was 1905 I'd be on borrowed time as of tomorrow. I'm dying.

Mark Driscoll, Pastor of the Mars Hill Church, just announced last week on Facebook that he's 40 and his life is half over. That's a rather bold statement, but one that's meant to make a point rather than state a fact. Fact is that if I make it to 80 I will have made it farther than any male in recent generations of my family. Truth is I'm dying. I'm sliding down the backside of the bell curve regardless of how you do the math.

I recently sent an e-mail to a friend with some thoughts in reference to a book they're reading about creating a life that matters in regard to Christ and the Gospel. I posed this question amongst others: "If you knew you only had 365 days to live what would you do with your life?" It's not to be morbid but rather to bring honesty into perspective. Do our lives 'honestly' reflect Christ's passion for the lost or do they merely intersect it on Sunday mornings?

It's my own question that haunts me now: What if I had but 365 days left? What if today I was to be my last? What if it's going to be next Friday? Or luckier yet, when I'm 80? The question doesn't really challenge the date in which I shall pass. But rather it forces me to consider what's really important. It makes me look at the clock and calendar in relation to the Cross and ask myself "Is this the best use of my time and talents?" "Is this really that important?" If I am called by God to be one of His own and to live a life that proclaims His greatness then is what I'm doing the best use of the time and breathe he has given me? Disappointingly the answer more often than not is "No, it isn't."

Let's face it. A great majority of us will pass into the dust of time and within a few years afterward may, or may not, be fondly remembered on occasion by a handful of friends and family. A few of us will leave a carving, etching, or some other token of our name embellished on a decade or two of time beyond our last step. And a very, very, very few will leave a readable, memorable, mark on history until history itself decides they are no longer relevant. The Truth, being what the truth is, dictates that I am dying . . . and so are you. Life, as we know it today, is merely a passing and our demise just a stepping stone into a vast eternity.

"So what matters?" I ask myself. Two thoughts help me answer that question.

First, I'm beginning to realize that we are not called to Christ to live a life that is plush and comfortable by cultural standards. While indeed some of us are set free from the shackles of addiction and habitual sins, Christ's eternal promise isn't meant to deliver us into a mortal life of easy living and problem free days. Christ calls us to a life of purpose and hardship brought on by a world that often doesn't get "it". Christ calls us out so that we may be sought out and seen by a world that thinks we're a bit "odd" and "interesting" to say the least. We're not called out to be significant in and about ourselves, but rather significant in the work we do in Him and for Him. For me that new awareness has brought on a re-evaluation of my life's goals as I ponder "What to do next?" with my life.

Second, what we have to "boast" about tells everyone how we use our time and talents. What we say, do, and even wear lets everyone know what is significant in our lives. If I met you on the street and we started conversing about life I sadly believe we may get close to exhausting the almanac of my life before you found out that behind the façade breathes a soul that longs for a full-on pursuit with Christ. That's seems strangely amiss. If you take a minute and examine your life, as I am mine, and realize you've never missed an episode of Seinfeld, or you make it a point to be in front of the 'magic box' every time "your" team plays, you know the final scores of every Super Bowl ever played, or you can recall all the past contestants on American Idol . . . well, maybe you begin to realize just where your time and talent go to waste. I'm not suggesting we are never to engage in "down time" but I'm beginning to discover, and wanting to separate, that which is important from that which is frivolous in pursuit of Him. Altering our natural earthly perspective is challenging and one that seems to renew itself each and every morning. In Him, in Christ, we are to find our strength and purpose in meeting that daily challenge.

"For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.  And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." ~ Paul, 1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"—  yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."  As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.  So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. ~ James 4:13-17

Truth is . . . I'm dying . . . we are all dying . . . and in our silence the ticking of the seconds provide the cadence for our lives . . . minutes pass and turn into days . . . days turn into a year . . . and before long the young dauntless tigers fade into old lions, much like the passion for our pursuits . . . the question isn't just "What will we do?" . . . but rather, "What will we do today?" to renew our pursuit of Him.

 

 

 

A Timeless Christ

Badgered by confusion, a group of Jews confronted Jesus believing that he must be possessed by a demon to say the things he does in John 8. The chapter concludes with Jesus announcing "before Abraham was, I am." What? Jesus says "I AM" not "I was". Why? Because Jesus is eternal and always present. Jesus, as God and party to the Trinity, exists before and outside of time. Chances are if they had asked Him "Jesus will you be in heaven?" the answer would echo the same "I am"; not "I will be." Jesus, being eternal, is always present and therefore always "I am".

My quick thoughts;

Eternity is timeless and time exists briefly inside of eternity. Time was created in Genesis 1:5. Time will cease to exist in the "last day" and fulfillment of Revelation when Christ returns to gather His own. Eternity always "Is" and has no date.  It's not a second ago, or a second later from now.  Like God, it always "Is" . . . and it's always present and in present tense.

The Trinity exists eternally and before time. God sends His Spirit to hover over the face of the deep in Genesis 1:2 before time is created in verse 5. Jesus pre-exists and transcends time as John 1:1 tells us that all things were made through Christ. And God's eternal nature is a theological given.

The "Time" question I have . . . "Where did Jesus go for the 3 days that His earthly body was in the grave?" We know His body lay dead for those 3 days. But what about His spirit, His essence? Where did He go and what did He do? Logic says Heaven to be with The Father . . . but I still want to know . . .

"God has visited his people!" Luke 7:16

 

Thinking Outside The Clock

My trying to comprehend God's greatness and holiness often leaves me with the feeling that I've hit a wall. My finite being and understanding can't fully grasp his infinite existence. And I know all my knowledge is but a grain of sand on the vast endless expanse of eternal beach. But of all my "bigger" thoughts, Time intrigues me the most.

"And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day." Genesis 1:3-5

And so "it" began . . . . Time.

God creates Day and Night marking first instance of a division of time as we know it. In that moment, that great divide, Time was born. God created day and night to allow us to mark time. To measure, compare, and compute. To remember our lost depravity and look forward to our promise of purity. Prior to mankind there was no need for Time.  Time doesn't harass the Omnipotent Being known as "The Great I Am" because He is always present and in present tense. Time doesn't matter in the midst of eternity. Eternity "Is". And it "is" without beginning, middle, or end. Eternity exists beyond the grasp of Time.  Eternity exists before time, and time will have a short life within the expanse of forever.

Time effects Mankind and Deity differently.

Time, and all of it's markers, is inconsequential to a limitless and boundless God. However we, as humanity, are made as "linear beings". We were born into Time. We exist on earth in a measured amount of ticks and tocks. Days, hours, weeks, months, years, are all the numbers of time. Our clocks start and our clocks stop. We travel in miles per hour. And in between all that starting and stopping is measured time and events marked with dates and hours on the calendars of our lives. More often than not I find myself organizing my daily life around Time rather than the Timeless. I get anxious about time and tasks and accomplishing what needs to be done . . . . in Time.

God gives us time and linear boundaries not only to measure, but also to compare. So we can fathom, and try to comprehend His limitlessness when measured against our finiteness. It's hard to imagine an "endless day" and existence outside of time. It's difficult to imagine that instruments of time won't have to be calibrated to an Atomic Clock. That the rising and setting of a sun will have no bearing on what occurs . . . ever. I don't think there will be a setting sun in the eternal day. And if there is perhaps it will be manufactured simply for our soul's delight . . . to remember a day . . . and how Time once held us captive to this world.

Right Here. Right Now.

 

"So if what we sometimes call luck is 'Being in the right place at the right time',Then shouldn't we be where we're supposed to be, when we're suppose to be there?" is what I asked myself.

 

Funny that this thought came to me yesterday when I was out on my motorcycle heading for some twisty roads to carve up.  It's only humorous because when I'm out on the bike I often try to be no where at no particular time.  Yesterday afternoon was one of those "no where" destinations.  No map, no real plan, just a general direction and then to find my way home.

 

But when I'm taking things a little more serious and back in the rhythm of "busy life" I become driven by the clock.  I'm often so conscience of time that I find myself arriving 10 minutes early to appointments.  So much so that I've had to drive around the block several times to burn off a a few minutes.

 

I like being on time.  I like arriving a few minutes early and having time to catch my breathe and relax into the situation.  There's a sense of calmness about arriving on time . . . being early is being in control.  Being timely, and by "timely" I mean a few minutes early,  you get to pick the best seat; which, at times, may be the one closest to the door.

 

Like money, time is also something created and given to us by God.  Time, like the cash in our pockets, is of great value and we should be mindful of it and manage as good stewards.  A friend and mentor in business once told me that Time was the one thing that once spent I couldn't make back and to use it wisely.

 

Unlike money, each of us wakes up with the exact same amount of time in our accounts for the day.

 

This morning I found this,

"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." Ephesians 5:15-17

 

Even Christ himself is sensitive to "timeliness".

"My hour has not yet come" ~ Jesus, John 2:4 speaking to his mother.  Read the passage and you'll find that Mary was intuitive about timing too. 

"My time has not yest come" ~ Jesus, John 7:6 talking to his brothers.

"See, the hour is at hand" ~ Jesus, Matthew 26:45 speaking to his disciples

"the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." ~ Jesus, John 4:23-24

 

And I like this contemporary quote,

"God has given me this day to use it as I will. I can waste it - or use it for good, but what I do today is important, because I am exchanging a day of my life for it."~ Heartsill Wilson

 

Death. Urgency. The Gospel.

As my life moves on two things have become inevitably true: First, time just keeps accelerating, days, weeks, months, and years seem to become progressively shorter. I know it's more perception than reality . . . but everything speeds by in a blur. Second, the older I become the more aware I grow of mortality and I can almost feel death's breath warm the back of my neck.

 

The first, time escaping me, I've been acutely aware of for a few years. The month starts, the month ends, and I can't help but feel it was only a week long. I peer back over a trail of papers, phone calls, my mileage log, and promise that next month I'll make it a point to get in touch with friends and pay more attention to my relationships. Hasn't happened yet . . . but there's always next month. Right?

 

The second came to me in my driveway Saturday as I was changing the oil in my wife's truck. A text message, followed up with a phone call, and yet another haunting reminder that around the next corner the end may wait. It was another call from a long time friend that yet another mutual friend had just passed away. Pete was 47, has two children, a wife, and Pete was struck by cancer. I'm 47, have two children, a wife . . . . and still my life.

 

The growing awareness that death inches it's fingers ever closer as time stretches on before us is nothing new . . . it just seems to become more frequent as the days pass. Recently I was next door of a friend's house when I saw his wife in the front yard. As I was about to pull away I took a minute to say hello and check in only to learn that John had just died in a motorcycle crash. The loss was just as haunting as the thought that I hadn't taken time to maintain a friendship. In the midst of managing my life, managing my relationships hasn't been high on my priority list,

 

The more life marches on the more I realize that I can look over my shoulder and see where the footsteps end of those I once walked beside but allowed to drift away. That list is growing and I sat quietly this morning rolling through the list of names of those I've known that I can no longer share life with. Worse yet, the reality that I no longer have the opportunity to share the Message of Life with those already gone on.

 

To the saved, death is a destination that marks the beginning of a new life beyond the stretches of our imagination and fascination. But it also marks the end of opportunities to share the greatest gift known with those we claim to love and influence.

 

The Gospel. Death brings urgency to the Hope of Life. Death marks a full awareness and focus on Christ to the "haves" and "have-nots" alike. Death . . . . . . death brings urgency to the delivery of The Gospel. Death begs my heart to do more, be more, live more, and share Him more. Death reminds me of why I'm His and what He asks me to do. Death begs urgency of Life.

 

In a few minutes I'll get up and walk out the door embarking on a new day, and a new week. But maybe it's the moment and the hour I need to be more aware of? The here and now. Not the tomorrows and next months. Not the peaks and pinnacles of the next year. Just today and the shoulders I brush, the hands I shake, the laughter and life I share. The air I breathe and the words it gives me.

 

Today . . . . . today I must find my friends.

 

"Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"—  yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." James 4:13-14

 

"We live, we die, and death not ends it."

 ~ James Douglas Morrison