Musings at Altitude

It was a wonderful day…6 people baptized at church…from young children to ladies that have much of their lives behind them…all 6 confidently stating their lives had been changed…and all publicly professing that commitment to Christ through baptism.  

Our sermon was out of Luke 9, where Christ asked, “who do the people say I am” and then “who do you say I am”.  Peter quickly replied, “you are the Christ of God”, and yet only a short time later he would deny he even knew Jesus as Jesus was taken away to die. 

I followed that very emotional time of worship with a round of golf with my son in law who is visiting from Beaumont, TX, and his father and one of his cousins.  The course was magnificent as we played 18 holes in one of the most majestic locations of God’s absolutely stunning creation.  Near as I can tell, I lost 9 golf balls, straying from the straight and narrow and seeking that shorter path that always led to a higher number of strokes per hole than I would have otherwise recorded.  If I had played irons all day, I’m fairly certain I could have cut 27 strokes off my round.  But I didn’t.  Nope.  I had to pull out the oh-so-manly driver, 3 wood, and fairway wood, and whack away, and then hang my head as the ball would veer off it’s intended course and head straight into the woods.  But I was rewarded about 1 out of 6 times with that awesome feeling that comes when one goes where it was intended, and because of that, I kept going back to the bag, pulling those same clubs, and seeking that same but oh so rare result.

And with an awesome day behind me, I went to sleep assuming I’d find the rest that my body so desperately needed.  But I didn’t find that rest. 

Instead, it’s 2:00 am in the morning and I’m in my office at home…restless…wheezing…coughing…knowing I need sleep but not finding it right now.

So I stumbled to my office to kill some time during this sleepless stupor and I went to one of my favorite web sites – http://tonymorganlive.com/.  I scanned down through the recent posts and found this one – Zac’s Story.  Zac is 32 years old, and he’s got cancer.  He’s had one surgery to remove 2 feet of intestines, but the cancer is relentless and has now spread to other organs.  He’s not expected to live till he’s 34.  He’s desperately trying to “finish well”, knowing that his time here on earth is coming to an end, and in that desperation, he wants young people to know that they shouldn’t squander the talents or the time that God has provided to each of us.  He ends with, “Our time is short, my friend, let’s get to work.”

As I listen to Zac’s story over and over again, his message is ringing in my ears – “our time is short, let’s get to work.” 

Today, I needed to wander in the wilderness in search of golf balls that I would never find.

In these early hours of this new day, I needed to be reminded that a path and plan has already been provided – Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.”

Our time is short.  Let’s get to work.