If you aren't familiar with the author David Platt, let me urge you to take time to get to know who he is, but more importantly what his message is. His book, "Radical", is an eye opening reminder to us of the life that is truly life. These are the kind of messages we need to be hearing in this nation. Don't know about you, but this one pierces my heart...now let's get out there and do something with it.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Upgrade Your Countertops
A few weeks ago my aunt and uncle were in a very serious car accident while driving home from a football game. Their car flipped four times after being hit by a young man who ran a stop sign, and they were both pinned in the car upside down. After both being cut out of the car by emergency workers, he was airlifted and she was sent by ambulance to the local trauma center, both considered critical. He suffered a broken neck, cracked skull, broken back in 3 places, broken ribs, and multiple other injuries. She suffered a broken neck, broken leg, injured face and hand and other injuries, as well. Though there have been many ups and downs for them both over the past few weeks, they are both still hanging in there, thanks to the prayers of so many.
When you get a phone call like that one, everything just sord of stops, or at very least goes into slow motion around you. All of the things that seemed so urgent and important just seconds before suddenly have lost their significance. Just a short time after the call I went to my email account to send out a prayer request to some friends. As I pulled up my account the subject line of one of my unread emails caught my attention. "10 Ways to Upgrade Your Countertops" . Now, normally, no big deal. This was obviously from some site that I've chosen to receive emails from, but for some reason now all of a sudden this line seemed so obviously foolish. My honest thought was, "who in the world cares about countertops? How stupid. People are dying and we're chatting about countertops" Now, I certainly realize that basically every human being I know has countertops (including myself, ofcourse), and I certainly don't have a problem with that, but in light of the life or death situation with my aunt and uncle, even the mention of this just seemed so incredibly petty. "Really? Countertops?" In the days that followed (all within about a week) we found out that some friends of ours' little girl, 4 years old, has leukemia. Also, another dear friend lost her husband to cancer, and just a little over a year ago had to bury her 20 year old son. The Lord just kept reminding me of the "countertops" line. It ate at me like crazy. "Lord, is this what we've become? Wasting our time on things that are nowhere NEAR eternal." Really this was just a big climax to some things the Lord's been showing us for some time...really for a couple of years, but intensely now in recent months. Kenny always talks about the deathbed scenario, and it's so right. Fast forward to your deathbed. What things are REALLY important to you in that moment. Your house? Your clothes? What movie you saw last week? How much money you made? Ofcourse not. The things that matter in that moment...your relationship with God, your family, the way you loved others and impacted their lives...that's it. If those things really are all that matter in the end, then why aren't we living in focused pursuit of them NOW? It's so hard to stay focused in this hectic culture we live in, it's true. But we only get one shot at this life...one. We just can't miss it. I can't. It's got to count. It's got to matter. There are real flesh and blood people out there hurting and dying...Most of them living in pursuit of whatever comes their way, but never truly fulfilled. I know it's something to which we need to give some serious thought and prayer. Lord, guide me. Open my eyes to the hurt around me in this world. Every one of us is living in this "story" we call life. Every single person we pass at the mall or the grocery store is living in the midst of their own story, and it's usually far from a fairytale. We are so consumed with our own little world that we are missing the life that is truly life. Missing the only thing that matters. God's word says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself." Actually, He calls part of this the "royal law". Nothing else matters. It's all summed up in this. This life is just a vapor. We are just a vapor. Here one moment, gone the next. As Mother Teresa said,"I have all eternity to rest, and there is still much to do ... Life is not worth living unless it is lived for others."
When you get a phone call like that one, everything just sord of stops, or at very least goes into slow motion around you. All of the things that seemed so urgent and important just seconds before suddenly have lost their significance. Just a short time after the call I went to my email account to send out a prayer request to some friends. As I pulled up my account the subject line of one of my unread emails caught my attention. "10 Ways to Upgrade Your Countertops" . Now, normally, no big deal. This was obviously from some site that I've chosen to receive emails from, but for some reason now all of a sudden this line seemed so obviously foolish. My honest thought was, "who in the world cares about countertops? How stupid. People are dying and we're chatting about countertops" Now, I certainly realize that basically every human being I know has countertops (including myself, ofcourse), and I certainly don't have a problem with that, but in light of the life or death situation with my aunt and uncle, even the mention of this just seemed so incredibly petty. "Really? Countertops?" In the days that followed (all within about a week) we found out that some friends of ours' little girl, 4 years old, has leukemia. Also, another dear friend lost her husband to cancer, and just a little over a year ago had to bury her 20 year old son. The Lord just kept reminding me of the "countertops" line. It ate at me like crazy. "Lord, is this what we've become? Wasting our time on things that are nowhere NEAR eternal." Really this was just a big climax to some things the Lord's been showing us for some time...really for a couple of years, but intensely now in recent months. Kenny always talks about the deathbed scenario, and it's so right. Fast forward to your deathbed. What things are REALLY important to you in that moment. Your house? Your clothes? What movie you saw last week? How much money you made? Ofcourse not. The things that matter in that moment...your relationship with God, your family, the way you loved others and impacted their lives...that's it. If those things really are all that matter in the end, then why aren't we living in focused pursuit of them NOW? It's so hard to stay focused in this hectic culture we live in, it's true. But we only get one shot at this life...one. We just can't miss it. I can't. It's got to count. It's got to matter. There are real flesh and blood people out there hurting and dying...Most of them living in pursuit of whatever comes their way, but never truly fulfilled. I know it's something to which we need to give some serious thought and prayer. Lord, guide me. Open my eyes to the hurt around me in this world. Every one of us is living in this "story" we call life. Every single person we pass at the mall or the grocery store is living in the midst of their own story, and it's usually far from a fairytale. We are so consumed with our own little world that we are missing the life that is truly life. Missing the only thing that matters. God's word says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself." Actually, He calls part of this the "royal law". Nothing else matters. It's all summed up in this. This life is just a vapor. We are just a vapor. Here one moment, gone the next. As Mother Teresa said,"I have all eternity to rest, and there is still much to do ... Life is not worth living unless it is lived for others."
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