Last Friday, we were listening to the Deans of all the individual schools that make up Shorter University in Rome intently. Debbie and I wanted to know how they were planning to use our funds to educate our only child. We didn’t want the work that we have done to be undone, and we were quite impressed with what we heard. Later we toured the freshman dorms, and saw where our daughter was going to share a space with three other girls - one bathroom. “That’s going to be interesting,” I thought. Then Debbie and I sat together in the shade on a rock wall, eating what we lovingly called a $31,000 free BBQ sandwich, while watching a whole lot of university students playing on bouncy houses, volleyball and just chatting each other up. You see the school brought in the party to give the kids a chance to blow off steam for FINALS week. Sitting there we overheard some of their conversations. Some were saying goodbye to each other. Some for just the summer vacation, while others were graduating and heading off into the sunset on the next chapter of their lives. One young man was bound for Colorado, another for New York. We sat there for a little while holding each other’s hands. We watched our daughter from afar walking around with her new friends and the free cotton candy. I won’t say, but there may have been a little tear or two in the corners of our eyes. Time moves on. It does not stop for no one.
Tuesday, the phone rang early. I don’t know the time, but most likely it was way before fishermen even get their hooks wet. Anyway, it was dark outside. My mother in law was frantic. “He’s fallen, and I can’t get him up.” She said. I grabbed my Bama baseball cap, threw my jeans on, and to their house I went. It is just down the road, so it didn’t take me long to get there. She met me at the door, and took me to him. My father in law was in the floor. She had covered him with a blanket and had given him a pillow. I surveyed the scene and figured out the best course of action. It didn’t take me long to get him up, so I looked around a bit. I saw the familiar home where Debbie grew up. I saw comfortable furniture. I remembered sitting on that very couch while dating their daughter. I remembered Christmases gathered around the tree in the den. They all kind of run together now. I remembered the picnics on the back porch or by the fire in the back yard. I smiled remembering when I rebuilt his back deck when it was no longer safe to use. Then I saw that I need to repair this deck. It’s getting a bit old. I looked around and there are quite a few things that I need to fix. Ok, so I’ll just add all those items to my to-do list. I finally remembered who I am, so I consoled my mother in law. As I listened to her cry. I thought to myself that this must be the first time that she put it together in her mind that things are different now. I think she saw, that her husband is no longer the big strong man that she married when she was 17. Yes, he cared for her that long, and time passes. It does not stop for anyone.
A couple of days later Debbie received another frantic call early in the morning, but this time the sun was already up. The call from her mother didn’t really make sense. She just said, “He needs an ambulance. He can’t.” We didn’t know what he couldn’t do, but we knew he needed an ambulance. I called one on my phone, while Debbie was trying to calm her mother. Of course the dispatcher wanted more information that I did not possess, so I gave Deb my phone, and off to the closet I went to grab my Bama baseball cap, jeans and tennis shoes. Off to their house I went, while Debbie and Hannah were still getting ready and calling her sister. I arrived just a bit after the ambulance and fire truck. I love fire trucks. They are so cool - red, shiny and big - what’s not to like I guess, but I digress. Debbie’s sister had arrived just minutes before I did, and we watched as they carried my father in law to the ambulance from his bedroom. My suggestion was that the sister get her mom ready while I follow the ambulance. The EMTs strapped him in, connected some tubes, and pulled away. As I was leaving behind my in-laws, Debbie and Hannah were arriving at their house. I waved, and off I went to the ER at Kennestone. I answered the questions that I could (Somehow I knew his middle name and birthdate -impressive right?). They decided that the questions I couldn’t answer would not be a deal breaker, so they began working with him. They began testing - took him for a cat scan. They drew his blood. They x-rayed his chest - took his temperature, connected him to the blood pressure machines. They discovered that he is a good deal sicker than a man full of cancer should be. You see he has also contracted pneumonia, and it has gone septic. This big man who took care of so many things for so many people is moving on to a new world - sooner rather than later I suppose. Then everyone began arriving to the ER. I hugged my mother in law. I took Debbie’s sister into the hall. I told her, “You make the decisions. Debbie will make sure everyone has something to eat. If you have to make a decision that no one likes then blame things on me. I am here for you and have been down this very road recently.” I saw Debbie and of course she was feeding her dad ice chips. What a girl! God gave me a gift you know? I don’t know what I did to deserve her. I guess I just caught a break with God. She looked at me with eyes that said everything, “I can’t go down this road again. Why does everyone have to die on me?”
Time moves on. It does not stop or even slow down for anyone. This means we as children of Christ have only a finite number of minutes to do the important things in life. What are the important things? You might ask. Well, the important things are relationships. First, the very most important relationship is the one with Jesus Christ the living Son of God. Use these finite minutes to check your relationship to Him. Are you secure in your salvation? Are you sure? Use the minutes you have been given to check your family’s, friends’, neighbors’, coworkers’ relationships to the ONE TRUE GOD. There is no other way to heaven than through Jesus Christ. If you don’t believe me check your Scriptures. Or you can just trust me. I know its’ there. How about your relationship to others? Do you really have time enough to spare to use in anger toward others. Or perhaps in envy. Wouldn’t it be a wiser use of our very limited time to be kind? Loving? Truthful?
