Vaporized...

Would you agree that life moves quickly, changes before our eyes and is gone before you know it?  Over the past 3 weeks these statements have become more true to me.  Two weeks ago I received a phone call from Dan while he was in Africa.  He had the unfortunate task of telling me my last living aunt, Aunt Drucilla, went home to be with the Lord unexpectedly at the age of 65.  Although she was dealing with early onset, fast acting Alzheimer’s, she was in overall good health.  How shocking!  Dan, Alex, my mom and I had just visited both she and my uncle recently, not realizing that would be the last time I would see her alive.  This news came while I was on my way home from Nashville, TN where I was acting as support for my “bestie”, Sara, whose grandmother had unexpected surgery.  At the time we left all looked well.  Now we realized recovery would take time, but in no way did we expect the news which would come the following week.  Sara’s grandmother, Mamaw Mary, took a turn for the worst.  She arrived at the point she needed help breathing, thus going on the ventilator, experienced her kidney’s shutting down, eventually coding.  As you can imagine the news took everyone by surprise.  The downturn was quick and fierce.  What a difference a couple of days make.   Following the death of my aunt and hearing the surprising news about Sara’s grandmother, Dan, Alex and I headed to Texas.  Dan was invited to speak at CANYON CREEK BAPTIST CHURCH (one of our favorite places to be).  While there we were able to have dinner with Troy and Kim Geesaman.  As most of you know their son, Curtis, went home to be with the Lord last July while at camp in Cedarville.  Unbeknownst to them they sent their healthy teenage son off with his youth group only to receive news the next day he had experienced a “freak” accident and lay in a coma.   Following several intensely emotion-filled hours, all the while crying out to their Heavenly Father, they let Curtis go join Him.   

Thankfully my aunt knew the Lord and celebrates with Him now. Maybe she has even seen Curtis sitting at the feet of Jesus.   Praise the Lord Mary knows Jesus as her Savior and we know Heaven will be sweeter when He calls her home.  All three situations remind me of how quickly life moves and that life is a vapor, a mist that is here for just a moment then gone.  We are reminded of this in James 4:14…

·         “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”  (KJV)

·         “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.” (ESV)

·         “How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” (NLT)

The average life expectancy of an adult born in the United States today is 78.06 years (for women it is a little longer - LOL).  A crude estimate of actual adult days lived is about 20,000 days.  Now we must take into consideration the following:

The average person…

Ø  is on the phone 2 years in a lifetime

Ø  is in the bathroom 3 years in a lifetime

Ø  is getting dressed 1 year in a lifetime

Ø  watches TV 9 years in a lifetime

Ø  sleeps 26 years (unless you are Dan and Alex Brown and then it is much, MUCH less…)

So let’s do the math ~ 78 minus 41 equals 37.  That is 37 years, not including time for other things such as eating and daydreaming.  Wow, that narrows down the time we, on average over a lifetime, have to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  What are you going to do with your time?

Here are three options…

1.    We can WASTE our lives…just as the prodigal

Take a minute and read the MESSAGE’s account of how he wasted his life…

The Story of the Lost Son

^11-12Then he said, "There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, 'Father, I want right now what's coming to me.'

^12-16"So the father divided the property between them. It wasn't long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.

 ^17-20"That brought him to his senses.

(Italics mine)

I love what this versions account of verse 20 ~ he came to “his senses”.  Coming to his senses wasn’t without hardship, difficulty and shame.  He wasted everything on uncontrolled, rebellious living and he experienced the consequences of his wasteful choices.

2.    We can SPEND our lives…like the rich young ruler

We must be willing to empty ourselves of ourselves and our stuff and be filled with Him.

 

¹⁶Another day, a man stopped Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"

¹⁷Jesus said, "Why do you question me about what's good? God is the One who is good. If you want to enter the life of God, just do what he tells you."

 ^18-19The man asked, "What in particular?"

Jesus said, "Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as you do yourself."

                 ²⁰The young man said, "I've done all that. What's left?"

 ²¹"If you want to give it all you've got," Jesus replied, "go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me."

²²That was the last thing the young man expected to hear. And so, crest-fallen, he walked away. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn't bear to let go.

3.       We can INVEST our lives…like Jesus

~ Ephesians 3:20,21 (MSG)

 ^20-21God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

   Glory to God in the church!
   Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus!
   Glory down all the generations!
   Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes!

   (Italics mine)

Wow, we don’t have a lot of time to give him in lieu of eternity.  Remember, we are just a vapor ~ here today and possibly gone tomorrow.

How you spend your 37 years? 

            ~Waste them

                        ~Spend them

                                    ~Invest them

In Him,

Stefanie