The Time We Have Left...

Today, my wife found out that one of her partners at work died late last night after a long battle with cancer. This came as a total shock and surprise to her and her other remaining partners even though they all knew this day would come. He had retired back in 2006 to devote some time to getting better and working from home and from all accounts they'd heard recently, he was doing pretty well.

My wife had talked to him a few weeks ago and she said that although he sounded tired, he came off in pretty good spirits. From what I gathered from Jennifer's other 2 partners, they echoed the same thing.

Yet, at noon today, Jennifer called me and in a tearful voice told me the tragic news.

This horrible news came just one day after we got an email relaying a message that one of Kaitlyn's friend's father had passed away suddenly in Cincinnati Thursday night.

Network and cable news shows reported yesterday evening of the senseless shooting in Kansas City at a local shopping mall and all of us remember what happened at Virginia Tech a few weeks ago.

A question...

What will you do with your life with the time you have left? There is never any guarantee that any of us will wake up tomorrow, alive and full of energy, or that we'll even make it to 5pm today. With that realization suddenly thrust upon me in such a powerful way, I have been snapped back into reality...the REAL reality...that life stops for no one.

Death happens to us all eventually.

It affects us all differently too. For me, after the initial shock of getting the horrible news about each of these circumstances, I have come to understand one thing:

I can no longer be silent of sharing God's love with others.

I have too many friends and family that I think about daily who I'm not sure if they know about Christ. I don't know how many of these people that died in the last 3 weeks knew that they had eternal life through Jesus. I have no idea who had trusted their lives to Him and were following His will for them.

There's no way to ever know.

There's no way to even know if what I may say or how I act around others will lead them toward engaging in a personal relationship with Christ but I cannot worry about if I feel "embarrassed" or if I might "offend" someone.

Time is marching on and there are still so many people who need to know that:

-JESUS CHRIST CAME TO DIE FOR YOUR SINS.
-HE CAME TO DO THIS BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU.
-NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER DONE COULD EVER MAKE HIM LOVE YOU ANY LESS THAN HE DOES RIGHT NOW.
-HE IS WAITING, KNOCKING AT THE DOOR TO YOUR HEART, WANTING TO SHOW YOU HOW MUCH HE LOVES YOU.

Please, trust in the Lord today and allow Him to come into your life.

I had intended to share some of these things with my wife's fellow partner but I allowed my own "stuff" to cloud my priorities and take up my time so that I never took the time to share with him how Christ loved him and wanted to spend eternity with him. I know that we had shared CD's of my pastor's sermons and talked a few times (albeit briefly) about the book of Revelation and the Second Coming but we never got around to getting into anything deeper...like his own personal relationship with God.

I don't know how many people that I know personally will read this but I have an incredible burden on my heart for you all right now. This isn't a time for me to feel some ridiculous bit of guilt and have a personal pity party. It's a time for me to pray for this man's family & friends...that God will grant them peace and comfort in this time of grief. It's a time to pray that God will send healing to them all as they mourn the loss of this one. It's a time to pray for a special touch of protection and comfort for the 2 young children he leaves behind as well as his wife.

It's also a time when all of us who claim to be believers in Jesus Christ and claim Him as Lord of our lives get off the sidelines and do as He commanded us...

to go into all the world and make men disciples of Him.

The time that I happen to have left on this side of Heaven I want to be sure that I am doing all I can for His kingdom. I want to know that I'm reaching out to anyone within my realm of influence that they might not only see Christ living in me but that they also may come into an intimate relationship with Him.

I pray that God will be with each and every one of you this very day and that today will be the day when you come to know Him as Lord & Savior.

I'll leave you today with the lyrics to one of Mark Schultz's songs called "Time That Is Left." I think it summarizes all that I'm trying to say today.

What will you do with the time that's left
Will you live it all with no regret?
Will they say that you loved till your final breath?
What will you do with the time that's left?

Oh, Hallelujah!
Oh, Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Amen

What will you do with the time that's past?
Oh and all the pain that seems to last?
Can you give it to Jesus and not look back?
What will you do with the time that's past?

Oh, Hallelujah!
Oh, Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Amen

What will He say when your time has come?
When He takes you into His arms of love?
With tears in His eyes will He say well done?
What will He say when your time has come?

Oh, Hallelujah!
Oh, Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
(Lord be present in all my ways,
help me follow You all my days oh Father God)
Amen

What will you do with the time that's left?
Will you live it all with no regret
Will they say that you loved till your final breath?
What will you do with the time?