You Just Never Know...

Life is one of God’s most precious gifts. Actually it’s probably the most precious one. It’s the gift that makes all the other ones possible if you will. But what I am contemplating today is what happens when that gift is gone…unexpectantly? We have it one day we use it, play with it, we live with it. And then one day as we are going through our day…it’s gone. Just like that. Eyes closed. Breathing stopped. Being no more. What then? We are never really ready to hear those words or face those facts. For a while it is almost as if it is a dream, the fact that the gift is gone. People are born everyday and they die everyday. What always seems to plaque my mind is...that person.  Before they die…what was there last thought? What was there last word? What about the last thing they saw or heard? How about the minutes before? For those who die in a car accident, can you imagine when they place their hands on the handle and open the door? Or as they are driving down the road just before they hit that final curve? We always hear in these unfortunate situations, “You just never know…”. Seems like I hear that from dozens of people per situation. But what does that mean, “You just never know”? It always seems like people give it a brief thought in that moment and then it vanishes until the next time and then they say “You just never know”. But what do you do with that…the not knowing? How do you cope with it? Make sense of it? How do you handle the “you just never know” moments in your own life? What if in just that moment God allows the clock to pause? He gives you 60 seconds to ponder your life, the last thing you said to your spouse or a parent? Did you apologize for hurting your friend? Was that 20 year grudge against your sister worth it? Did your child really know just how much you really loved them? Well, I haven’t been in that situation, obviously, so I don’t know if you get that moment. But what I do know is at that moment…its too late, because at the end of those 60 seconds…well you know the rest. This morning the Holy Spirit said to me, sometimes you never know how precious life is until it becomes a memory. Stop for a moment, perhaps 60 seconds, and ponder your life. More importantly, ponder your relationship with God. Could it be better? (for ALL, the answer is yes). What do I need to work on or clean up? We all should come to realize this gift is from God and he controls it. God plans the date of birth and the date of death. He gives us the dash between those dates. What are we doing with them? Ephesians 5:15-16 says “Therefore be careful how you live -- not as the unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity...”