What I've learned this year...

This may seem elementary for some of you, but I've just learned it since April.

Life changes in a flash. 
We are literally a breath away from eternity.

I knew that all of life could change quickly.  A split second can be the difference between crashing your car or swerving out of the way.  A health diagnosis can change your life and your heart forever.  


We are one breath away from eternity.


At Dale's funeral, Pastor Byron (who I have the utmost respect for), stated that we are just a breath from eternity.  It's hard for us to realize this in our planned-out, daily lives, but the moment between what you are doing now, and meeting God, could be a second. 

In the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan, Chan tells the story of Stan Gerlach, a friend of his who experienced just that.  Stan was giving a friend's eulogy at a funeral and then decided to share the gospel.  At the end of his message, Stan told the mourners, "You never know when God is going to take your life.  At that moment, there is nothing you can do about it.  Are you ready?"  Then Stan sat down, fell over, and died."  Chan continues, "...what it must have felt like for Stan.  One moment he was at a memorial service saying to a crowd, "This is who Jesus is!" The next, he was before God hearing Jesus say, "This is who Stan Gerlach is!" 

Are you ready?

Sometimes I think the same question relates to our family members.  Are we ready...to let them go?

As I sat in the airport last month getting ready to board a plane to get to my mom who had just had a heart attack...something hit me like a lead balloon.  My mom could die.  What if that happened?  What if there were things I should have said?  What if there were things we should have done together?  While I didn't want to let my mind go this way, being on the other side of the Atlantic and not knowing what was going to happen next had me all tangled in knots.  I was worried.  

I prayed for peace.  In the waves and tides of life, I am not in control.  It's not until I give HIM the control that I allow myself to rest.

My mom is better...

but through all of this God has been showing me in 2011 what life is really all about.  All the pettiness and things that we think are so important, are really just stupid.  I can't control my days anymore than I can control the Ohio weather.  I need to give it to HIM and allow things to go according to HIS plan.

The Lord has spoken to me recently through James 1:17, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

My husband is God's, not mine.  My child is God's, not mine.  My family is God's, not mine.  While I shift and change, God is steadfast...and he knows the end of the plan.  He gets it.  I don't.


We are one breath away from eternity.