Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Life is Uncertain, God is Not.



The Monday before Thanksgiving the President of the Southern Baptist Convention announced that he has prostate cancer and will undergo surgery in January. On Thanksgiving Day, a young 35 year old pastor in Flower Mound, whom I look up to greatly, suffered a seizure which led to them finding a mass on his frontal lobe and will undergo brain surgery this Friday to remove the mass and discover whether it is malignant or not. Two days after Thanksgiving a former president of the SBC and the current VP of the North American Mission Board, tragically lost his 32 year old daughter. On the same day a church planter in the Houston area had a marital dispute with his wife and “made a bad choice how to settle it, and took his own life”. These are all leaders that are very close to home in the Baptist realm and local area. They have all been on my mind and in my prayers all week especially the young pastor from Flower Mound.

When I woke up this morning it was snowing. Just a week or so ago we had the a/c on in our house and this morning I cannot get warm enough. It dawned on my through these events, life is unpredictable. We never know what tomorrow holds. Last week the young pastor in Flower Mound was getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family and this week He is having brain surgery unsure of the results. Last week Frank Page was spending time with his daughter at thanksgiving, this week she is gone. Last Sunday a church in Houston had a young, vibrant, Pastor; this week they are confused and hurting. Life is unpredictable and we are never guaranteed tomorrow.

Each one of us makes many decisions and has many conversations every day. Some of these we are particularly passionate about. Through our decisions and conversations what if we weighed everything in an eternal perspective? Is everything that we do during the week eternally uplifting? Are the discussions or conversations that we have degrading or uplifting to the body of Christ? We must think of all things in their eternal value. As a young man of 25 I recognize that I do not have much time and when I look back over my week I have wasted so much time in conversations that were not of eternal value. I repent of this. Our time here on earth is short, each moment must be lived to Glorify God as we are not promised tomorrow. In our lives and church, we must move past our own agendas and desires and to eternal ones.

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14