Over the years I have often made a practice of writing thoughts, feelings & observations. It often helped me express, share and understand what God is teaching me in my journey on this planet. At the end of each calendar year, I would often look back and journal thoughts, feelings, events, things learned and experienced during the past 365 days as a way to grow and prepare for the coming year (or for as much time as God would allow me to survive in the days ahead). I tried to use this practice as a way to help me become more mature and improve as a person each year. The jury may still be deliberating as they seek to reach to a clear decision on my maturity and improvement. Anyway, as the number of years in the past accumulate, I have come to the following basic conclusions (Careful they may apply to you also).
First: GOD'S HAND WAS WITH ME ALL MY LIFE
(even when I did not realize it…often and especially when I did not realize
it!). As I look back over my life, I see God’s hand clearly guiding me,
preserving, protecting me and leading me (often in spite of myself). That does
not mean I have not stumbled and struggled but His grace and protecting hand has kept me from totally
messing up my life and He is continually working to redeem me for His purpose
as well as use the experiences in my past to honor Him today when I follow and
trust Him. Romans 12: 1 & 2 tells me
(and you also) to offer myself completely to God not conforming to the ways of
this world, but be transformed by the renewing of my mind. In other words, the more I/we give myself/ourselves
completely to Him, thinking, seeing and living life different from the ‘ways of
the world’; I/we will then be more able see and understand His will for my/our
life. I/we will then also see to a
greater extent how He has been with me/us for this time and His purpose and
will.
Second: I AM A UNIQUE CREATION. You are as
well, but since I am the one writing this and the previous couple of sentences
may have been laborious with all the ‘I/we’ stuff, I will try to make my
point using the first person and you can apply it to yourself as you desire. OK, back to me…There are times when I feel
out of step with the rest of the world. I
often tell my wife that I know that I know that I am weird and sometimes I feel as
if I am on the wrong planet (I wonder why she never argues with that
statement…Hmmm). However, Psalm 139:14
tells me (and you); “I am fearfully and wonderfully made”. I am not an
accident of birth. I have traveled to 5
of the 7 continents and have met and encountered a large number of people in my
years. I have never
met or seen anyone like me! Thank goodness, huh? I also have never met or seen anyone quite
like you! There is a divine design
behind His creation of me, and each one of us. That same Psalm tells me that God 'knit me together
in my mother’s womb'. There is also a divine purpose and plan behind my
creation. I was not created just to bump
around, pay taxes and die. The
scriptures give us other examples of how God has a divine purpose and plan for us
before we are born with the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5) and the Apostle Paul
(Galatians 1:15). That is why, as I look
back over my years, I can see that not only was His hand apparent in guiding
me, preserving, protecting and leading me but He purposely created me to be who and where I am today for His
purpose as I submit to Him. He created
me (and you) uniquely for this time and purpose! No one can do what God intentionally created
you to do! You were “fearfully and
wonderfully made” by God for His unique purpose for you in this time and
place in history!
Finally: LIFE IS FRAGILE AND PASSES QUICKLY. I can’t believe that I got this old this
quickly. James 4:14 describes life as a
mist. It is truly fragile. A mist is something that is frail and can
disappear in a second. Twenty-one years ago, God miraculously preserved me by leading
in a very unusual manner to the discovery of multiple aneurysms that could have
easily ruptured and killed me. My mother died from an undetected brain aneurysm that ruptured in the middle of a conversation with my father. She said she had a sudden sharp pain in her head and collapsed in her chair and was gone. She was 68 and in great health. The
doctor told me that this type of discovery was usually found in the autopsy as
they were seeking to discover why this seemingly healthy man in his late 40’s
suddenly dropped dead. He told me that
God evidently still had work for me to do. I KNOW life is fragile
and needs to be handled with care. That
is why I seek to make the most of each moment. I do not know what will happen tomorrow. I do not have tomorrow promised. I may not be able finish writing this blog…the
suspense is overwhelming. However, I
have THIS moment! I need to make the most of this moment. This is why God still has me here!
Now, I think I can assume correctly that these conclusions
do not apply only to me. Some people mark time while others choose to
do as Ephesians 5:16 guides us to make the most of every chance you get.
Years ago, I watched an interview with Colonel
Jack Jacobs, Medal of Honor recipient, who, even in his later years, was known
to live an adventurous life. He said; “I
believe in getting the most out of life because I am going to be dead a long
time.” No matter what one’s faith
and belief about life after death may be, this statement hit me as a reminder
that this is the only opportunity we have here in THIS life; let us make the
most of it!
