Numbering our Days

I flipped the left turn signal on as I drifted lazily into the passing lane of the lonely divided highway. With only 10 miles remaining in a 2000 mile family road trip, I was ready to embrace the comfort of our own home. My mind was a mixture of memories of our trip and expectations and plans for a new week at home, getting back into the rhythm. With a task-oriented personality, most of my focus was on the latter. The semi, which I was preparing to pass, was peacefully riding along the empty night in the right lane. The only sounds were the kids quietly talking in the back of the van. As I completed my drift into the passing lane and prepared to accelerate past, terror seized my being. Two headlights appeared in my lane coming at a wicked speed directly towards us. I had only time to jerk the wheel as hard as I could to the right. The car shot past missing my front bumper by inches. My terror did not diminish as we careened into the gravel shoulder. I knew at 70 mph with a high top van, the chances of staying upright in the gravel would have to defy physics. By God's grace, the van straightened back onto the pavement, and we were left panting as we tried to make sense of what had just happened. Suddenly, my goals for the days, weeks, and years to come were insignificant. Life was instantly reduced to faith and family. We would later learn that the car was traveling down the interstate in the wrong direction, believing they were in the right. God spared my life and the lives of my family that night.

Just last week, I was finishing some home repairs when my ladder slipped. I was bucked off the ladder and fell headfirst to the ground. In that instant, the important things in life become clear. God once again spared what could have been a fatal experience. I walked away with a broken collarbone.

Why is it so difficult to keep the proper perspective? We seem to drift between extremes. We often live with intricate plans and routines as if we will be here forever. We boldly preach our own magical formula of vitamins, diet, and exercise routines, that are sure to keep us strong and healthy past the national averages. We often get focused on goals, objectives, and long term planning. It is one of the only effective ways to get things done in our society. We put a premium on knowing where we want to be and what steps we have laid out to get us there. We forget that we are one breath away at any moment from eternity. One cracked branch, one fatal germ, one distracted driver... The possibilities are endless. We cannot predict or plan for all of the possible ways that our lives can come to an end. Frankly, we are not supposed to do so. Others focus on all of the dangers in life. They try and eliminate or mitigate every risk in their lives. They check expiration dates on canned goods and don't go to amusement parks. They believe they can control all of these risks and keep one step ahead. Both philosophies are equally futile.

While society praises both of these mindsets, the Bible denounces both. We are not masters of our own fate, and we cannot beat our expiration date. When these stories are told, many jump to the preventions. Don't drive at night; screw your ladder to the ground; wear a bulletproof vest. They are still clinging to the allusion of some control over their destiny. Not that mistakes cannot be prevented, but they are missing the fragility of life.

James 4:13-17 says: "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them."

The challenge is to maintain a proper mindset. Being close to death has a way of stripping away the fluff. What is really important? What should my life be about? What would I be remembered for if today was my last day? Am I right with God? Is my eternity secure? Have I poured myself into the people and things that really matter? We don't know when our time will run out. As a believer that should actually comfort us. George Whitfield said, "We are immortal until our work on earth is done." In both situations mentioned in the beginning of this article, I can come up with no logical reasons why we were able to survive with little or no damage. God's work for me must not be finished.

God does not want us to live in fear. God does not want us to live lives trying to prevent all dangers ahead. He wants us to live boldly with the right things on the front of our minds. What are we to be, and how are we to serve him?