Ever since I watched my dad pass into eternity at age 45 my perspective changed....and then when my pastor stepped into eternity at a very young 58 it changed again. And then a precious little girl close to Phoebe....and then a loving brother who gave part of his liver to save his brother from a chronic liver disease..... all stepped from this earth into eternity....way too young.
It's got me thinking about something. Maybe we place too much value on long life. I'm just thinking out loud here... but maybe we see life as our chance to shine, our chance to grow up, make a name for ourselves, travel to all the places we dream of, have children who have chidren who grow up to be successful with prosperous careers. Have cute kids that play sports and go to college and make us proud. Live a long time and grow old gracefully surrounded by markers of success all around us, and then peacefully die when we are old and everyone honor our lives.
And if that is interrupted in any way, especially if our lives are cut short by the standard of old age, then something must've gone wrong. What went wrong? What happened? What did we do? What didn't we do? What should we have done different? How could this happen? How could a little child be taken from this earth so young...without a chance to live a long life?
And we think and ponder...but never are satisfied with an answer so the next tragedy we hear about....shock again...how could that happen! And it affects us as if nothing has ever happened bad before. Why? Because we value life so much....but not just life, long life.
I've never seen a person make better use of their life than Billy Joe Daugherty, my spiritual father. And while I dream every day of him being back again as if nothing ever happened, I realize that he didn't waste any time and he used it all for the Kingdom of God, not to pursue his success.
My dad loved his family and we and he had no regrets. We loved each other, we said it, we lived it. He worked hard too provide for us. He loved God.....but 45 years, come on, that's just way to young.
But if I look at life differently for a moment, if I look at life as a vapor, just as the Word of God calls it, then I'm not so upset, mad, and confused at tragic death. Do you think God welcomes those who die young into Heaven with a hung head as if to say I'm so sorry you had to leave that wonderful place early and come here to Me? I don't think He does. I wonder if in Heaven LIFE becomes crystal clear....LIFE truly begins when we reach Eternity! What if this is just a training ground? What if this is just a blip of time given to us so that we could choose or reject God. People born everyday hopefully to grow up to choose God so that we could live with Him forever. And all that other stuff really doesn't matter. Like length of time here.
If Eternity is forever....then what difference does a short or long time on Earth really matter after all. And think about all the sad little children who die early....at least they never grew up and turned away from God, right?
I'm not saying life here doesn't matter, but that maybe we should look at our time here differently. How much time does the average American waste in their lifetime watching trash on television. How much time does the average American waste building a bank account or the facade of one through their home and vehicles? How much time does the average American waste living for themselves, and feeling sorry for their life and the things that has happened to them?
What if from this point on we made life really count? So that if we left this earth tomorrow or in 40 years it would be ok. And what if we become resilient to tragedy? We believe for miracles, prosperity, health and long life. But if life doesn't go as we want, plan, or need it to, then we adapt, we change, we grow, we bend, we stare boldly at tragedy and know that God is still God and we have a purpose in this life that goes beyond happiness and safety.
Hmmmm....I think I'm gonna try that.
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