With four kids who have all played sports, our family has had its fair share of stitches and broken bones After each injury, I’m always reminded that life can change in an instant…
It is true…each moment of our lives is a gift and one moment can change everything. I had two experiences in the last 24 hours that are lingering in my thoughts right now.
Today my son Brian was playing soccer. One moment he was running down the field and the next moment he collided with another player and fractured his collar bone….at the hospital, as I listened to him share some of the discouragement and frustration over how this injury changes many of the hopes and plans he had in place for the next several weeks, I felt badly for him. It also reminded me how a moment changes so much.
Last night, I had the privilege of tagging along with the youth group from our church and taking part in a ministry to share Jesus’ love with homeless people in downtown Seattle. My son, Brian and I met Barry, who has been living on the streets for 11 years. I wanted to know his story and I noticed he was reading a book so I asked him about it…it was a western. As we talked about reading, he told us more about his life. He told us about his grandmother who was a Christian and he let us know that somewhere in his overflowing shopping cart was a bible. When we asked him if we could pray with him he said, “Yeah, pray that I gat saved before I die.” We talked some more... and the more we talked the more I realized that even though he knew the bible well, and he seemed to believe in God…he didn’t believe God...he seemed to think he had to make himself “good” before he could approach Jesus. We had a fairly long discussion about grace but he kept telling us how he planned to get right with God "someday"…that it was something he has been meaning to do.
I hope I get to talk with him again soon. He can be saved before he dies…in a moment…and that moment would change everything.
As our conversation drew to a close my heart felt uneasy because even though everything can change in a moment, it is also true that a life can end in a moment.
How sad…no, how TRAGIC it would be if Barry dies tonight before he cries out to Jesus and how wrong of me that I didn’t communicate as clearly as God wanted me to with Barry about the urgency of embracing God as his Lord and Savior. And how tragic it is if we live as if tomorrow is guaranteed and so we put off doing what God is pressing on our hearts to do today!
I want to live each moment intentionally for my Savior...
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