December 14, 2021 – Click here to listen
Yesterday I drove for six hours to see an eye doctor and get back home. I waited an hour and a half in his waiting room only to have him tell me I needed to see a specialist because my ailment is beyond his expertise. Wat? I have all but lost my vision at night and dark situations such as restaurants, closets, etc. and was hopeful that something could be done. Aside from a miracle from Jesus I think I am doomed to being blind at night and maybe daytime. But it was worth a shot.
What disturbed me the most about this visit is that I lost an entire day. I don’t want to waste a single day of my life. I try to get the absolute maximum out of every day. Sitting in a doctor’s office for an hour and a half is not what I had in mind. On my ill-fated trip to the Bahamas the other day I left my dock at 4:30 a.m. and got home at 9:30 p.m. but that was different – that was a 17 hour fishing adventure and I had a blast. I think I was more tired when I got home from the Miami doctor trip than the fishing trip. It was sheer boredom.
I think my life is like a speeding meteor shooting through the sky that will appear for a glorious moment or two and then disappear into obscurity. Before my life is extinguished, I want to experience as much of this life as the Lord will allow. How about you? Is your life akin to a speeding meteor or a slow-moving sloth? You do have a choice.
Yesterday a cranky old man who came hobbling in on a cane was spewing venom to anyone who would listen in the doctor’s office about the long wait. The rest of us were patiently enduring, but he showed his displeasure by raising his voice and complaining bitterly about the situation. It finally became evident why he was so upset. Apparently, he wanted to go to the post office to mail Christmas cards and now he would have to do so today instead of yesterday.
Egad! Are you kidding me? Mailing Christmas cards is what all that was about . . . Geez.
I was telling my wife that as I advance in age at some point, I was going to have to forego my hardcore fishing and perhaps some other activities, but I prayed in the doctor’s office to the Lord that He would not reduce me to anxiously awaiting adventures to the post office. Then I thought about my brother-in-law. When he and Teresa’s sister lived in our guest house at Honey Lake his adventure was taking the trash to a dump that was located a few miles down the street. When he returned, he would wash, dry, and fold the clothes that they had used the previous day. He would not join me in hunting or fishing, and he didn’t play golf, tennis, or anything. His adventure was taking the garbage to the dump and doing the laundry. Hey, its whatever floats your boat, but keep on kicking – Right?
Fortunately, I love to study the Bible, paint and create art, play music, write, cook, and a myriad of other things. At this point in my life, I simply cannot make time to do them all because there isn’t enough time. So, I must decide which is more important and make haste. Some projects may seem silly but in the words of Martin Luther: Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.
At the end of the day God created us all to be different. The most important thing that we can do is serve Him. I try my utmost to do just that in any number of ways and hope you do as well. For sure one day time will run out for all of us and the door to the opportunity to do all those things you have dreamed about will slam shut. Stop dreaming and do them!
James 4:14
Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.