Live Like We are Dying

Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.  Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. James 4.13-17

This verse has been on my heart since yesterday.  I found a quote a while ago and set it on my skype ID as my quote: "God, during my vapor what have You called me to do?"

This weekend was one of the best weekends I've had in a long time.  It was because I lived it with purpose.  I purposefully scheduled time with each of my girls and did things with them that I knew they loved.  Abby and I went and sat at a park with our sketch pads and just drew.  It was pretty cool.  She did a great charcoal picture of some flowers, while I doodled different elements of the park.

Hannah and I went to the driving range.  Granted, I really like to do this and Hannah has never done anything more than putt-putt, but she has asked me a lot about when we would go putt-putting again. So we got a loaner club from the driving range and hit a bucket full of balls.  She is now asking when we are gonna play golf again and that she wants her own "puck" (golf club) to play with.

Jen and I went out to a movie and then a nice dinner at Season's 52 (our favorite place).  It was a great dinner to catch up with my wife and see her heart again.  Many times in life you just get comfortable with someone and then you lose sight of their hearts.  It was wonderful to smile, cry and laugh together as we walk through this life.

While at dinner, I received a phone call from my dad that my uncle, who is 3 years older than me and more like my brother, had a stroke.  This sent my heart and mind into a tail spin.  He is only 39 and in good health.  This type of stroke usually happens to older people with high blood pressure.  He doesn't have either one of these.

This just serves as a reminder to me that I'm not guaranteed the next breath, much less tomorrow.  That is what today's passage tells us.  We do a lot of bragging and planning, but live like we are entitled to the next breath.  I live with the assumption that I will make it home from work to kiss my wife and girls and tell them once again, "I love you."  But I am not guaranteed the next moment, much less this evening.

With this morbid thought, we have one of two choices.  We can either let this settle in our hearts and cause us to live our lives paralyzed by fear emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and physically or we can use it to motivate us to live our lives, every moment, on purpose - without regret.  I choose this day, this moment, right now to live without regret.  I choose to take my wisp of a vapor, called life, and use it bring glory to God my Father in Heaven to make sure that everyone who comes in touch with me right now knows I and God love them tremendously.

Let me close by allowing my inner-red-neck to come out.  Take a look at the lyrics to this Tim McGraw song entitled, Live Like You Were Dying:

Verse 1
He said I was in my early forties, with a lot of life before me
And one moment came that stopped me on a dime
I spent most of the next days, looking at the x-rays
Talking bout' the options and talking bout' sweet times.
I asked him when it sank in, that this might really be the real end
How's it hit 'cha when you get that kind of news?
Man what did ya do?
He said

Chorus
I went skydiving
I went rocky mountain climbing
I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu
And I loved deeper
And I spoke sweeter
And I gave forgiveness I'd been denyin'
And he said some day I hope you get the chance
To live like you were dyin'

Verse 2
He said I was finally the husband, that most the time I wasn't
And I became a friend, a friend would like to have
And all of a sudden goin' fishin, wasn't such an imposition
And I went three times that year I lost my dad
Well I finally read the good book, and I took a good long hard look
At what I'd do if I could do it all again
And then

Bridge
Like tomorrow was the end
And ya got eternity to think about what to do with it
What should you do with it
What can I do with it
What would I do with it

Join me in living like we are dying.  NO REGRETS!!! Take a moment and tell those closest to you that you love them.  Speak kindly today to those you come in contact with. Forgive those who have hurt you. Don't waste another moment...seize them with joy and purpose.

Insider or Outsider?

"Wash your hands!  It's time to eat."  Those were the words that were uttered before every meal as a child.  We now utter those same words to our girls.  I am thankful for clean hands when it comes to food.  Last week Abby was cooking dinner and forgot to wash her hands before she cooked the Mac-n-Cheese.  I joked with her that I like the dirt flavored noodles.  She hit me and and we laughed together.

I am thankful that when it comes to God that He doesn't utter the same thing, "Get washed up and then come to the table."  In other words, "Get your life together and cleaned then come follow me."  Check out this passage in Matthew 9.1-13:

Back in the boat, Jesus and the disciples recrossed the sea to Jesus' hometown.  They were hardly out of the boat when some men carried a paraplegic on a stretcher and set him down in front of them.  Jesus, impressed by their bold belief, said to the paraplegic, "Cheer up, son.  I forgive your sins."  Some religion scholars whispered, "Why, that's blasphemy!"

Jesus knew what they were thinking, and said, "Why this gossipy whispering?  Which do you think is simpler: to say, 'I forgive your sins,' or, 'Get up and walk'?  Well, just so it's clear that I'm the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both..."  At this he turned to the paraplegic and said, "Get up.  Take your bed and go home."  And the man did it.  The crowd was awestruck, amazed and pleased that God had authorized Jesus to work among them this way.

Passing along, Jesus saw a man at his work collecting taxes.  His name was Matthew.  Jesus said, "Come along with me."  Matthew stood up and followed him.

Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew's house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them.  When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus' followers.  "What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riffraff?"

Jesus, overhearing, shot back, "Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick?  Go figure out what this Scripture means: 'I'm here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.'" (MSG)

When Jesus called Peter, James, John and Andrew they were just fishermen, not scholars or seminary graduates.  They were normal, average, dirty men.  They were not religious but workers.  Jesus called them and they followed.  Then Jesus made them into who they were created to be and they influenced the world more for Christ than any religious person ever did.

The passage that Christ was referring to is found in Hosea 6.6, "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings."

God is calling each of into a life a following Him.  It isn't about doing things, but rather being someone - a follower of Christ.  It in that following that we find fulfillment and purpose.  In that following we find that Christ will make us into who God wants us to be.  In that following - this being a follower - that we will make our most profound impact on the world we live in.

Are considered a follower of Christ, or a merely dabbling in religion?  If people were to examine your life would they consider you a follower of Christ?  Are you on the inside or outside?  I am thankful that God is more interested in the outsiders and the sick - for which I am among.