Two Thoughts

Yesterday I was able to spend some time with my mentor. As usual I walked away from the conversation with a good thought from him. We met at the local coffee shop but it was somewhat loud so we ended up driving around for a little while.

He took me to the local high school where he serves as the coach of character development for the football team. He introduced me to several players and the coach, and you could see their love and respect for him.

As he was taking me back to my car he said something, the thing that has stuck with me. "There is no batting practice in life." My mentor can find a sports analogy for just about every situation. He went on, "People live today as if it's preparation for the life they'll live someday."

I've thought about that a lot. I've seen that to be true in my own life. Right now life isn't at all like my wife and I thought it would be. We're living in my parent's basement, and I'm still looking for a job. We've had three interviews with churches, two we've said no to, and the third didn't give us the chance to say no. A few resumes I've sent out have either not been answered or have come back with the response, "We decided to go in another direction."

It's a really frustrating time. And in this time it's easy to think about the life we're hoping to have someday. In a way we treat this time like practice, something we have to go through in order to get to the game, or for me, the front lines of battle. But that's not how life works. In life there is no warm up, there is no practice, it's all the game, it's all battle. I don't mean that in a negative "Life sucks and then you die" way. What I'm saying is we only get one go at this, this is all real. All of this counts. All of this matters.

A few days ago I had a scary moment, we had a cancer scare. Everything is fine, it ended up being nothing, but for about two days as we waited to get into the doctor we didn't know. I remember that night just lying there holding my wife, fighting back tears, telling her it was all going to be ok, not knowing if it would be. And the only thought that was on my mind was, "Just hold her. Soak this all up because it might not be here forever."

Needless to say I was extremely relieved when everything came back clean. But it's put a lot into perspective for me. Reality has hit me that this moment is all there is. The life we hope for may never come, so don't waste this time preparing and holding out for what is never guaranteed. There is no practice in life, we born and its go time.

Thought number two hit me yesterday as I was driving. President Obama has been re-elected, and many are less than thrilled. I woke up Wednesday with a knot in the pit of my stomach. I am concerned about the future of my country. The change he's brought so far hasn't been for the better, and four more years really doesn't look good. It's a bit scary to think about the things he can do and say now that he doesn't have to worry about running for office again.

But as I wrote before the election, God is still in control. President Obama is just a man with no power except what God has allowed him to have, and he will one day have to stand before God and answer for how he used that power, just as all of us will.

As I've thought about some of the statements he's made, this thought came to my mind, "Sin legalized in the eyes of man is not righteous in the eyes of God." I realize that could come across as offensive, or attacking a particular view, but that is not how I mean it. I am focusing on sin in general, not one in particular.

Any law can be passed to make anything legal or illegal. The government can say that this is ok while this is not. But that doesn't change the truth and righteous standards of God. No governmental authority can overturn His standards. No one can take what God says is wrong and make it right. God is the final and absolute authority of holiness, and His standards are what all will be measured against.

As I conclude this I realize that these two thoughts tie together. We only have one shot at life, and there is only one standard of righteousness for us to live by. Let us live today fully in the moment. Let us commit ourselves to God, and strive for His righteousness. He sent Jesus to show us how to live, to die and rise again so that we could be righteous and holy. He sent His Holy Spirit to fill those who strive after Him so that they could live as Jesus modeled. We have one life, how will you live it?

"I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread."

To God alone be the Glory!

Peace be with you