First posted on my Tumblog on August 3, 2010.
The brake lights lit up in front of me. I slowed down. My car rolled to a stop. In front of me was a large silver pick-up truck that was several years old. The back bumper was plastered with political stickers and stickers proclaiming how wonderful the driver’s school-aged child performed on their last report card.
Though the stickers were amusing (and strongly opinionated), what caught my attention was a small decal that was placed differently than the other stickers. It was higher. Its strategic placement screamed, “Look at me, I’m more important.”
I lifted my foot off the brake and inched forward. The sticker said, “In Loving Memory.” Below that it had a date 1986-2009. The individual who passed away was not too much older than I am now.
My heart sank slightly. The past few days I’ve been really contemplating my age and my life up to this point. Saying goodbye to my teenage years is actually challenging for me as ridiculous as that may sound. I have continually been asking myself questions about what I did right the past two decades and where I can improve upon for the future.
Seeing that decal on the back of the truck made me think about the brevity of life and how truly fortunate I have been to live twenty full years. At any moment our lives can be taken away. Often I forget that. I am not saying that death is something we should dwell on by any stretch. Instead, we must be thankful for our lives and strive to live our lives to the fullest.
So why is the post untitled? It’s simple. I’ve based it around the idea that we do not know how long we have to live; though we may have goals and aspirations, we do not know if we will every reach them—really much of life is undefined. Though we truly don’t know the length of our life or what will happen over the course of life, there is one thing that I personally know for certain. It is based on what I’ve learned the past 20 years and I know that this truth will govern the next 20 years and the rest of my life. Here is that truth:
There is only one thing that never changes, one thing that guarantees hope and one thing that will never abandon me. That one thing is my personal relationship with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. God has given me a hope and a future in all circumstances even when all hope seems lost at it seems so easy to give up (Jer. 29:11). His love is deeper, higher, longer and wider than anyone can fathom (Eph. 3:16-10, 1 John 4:7ff). God’s love has been proven to me over and over again. It has brought me through many trials and difficult circumstances in my life. Without Christ in my life, I would not be where I am today. I would have no assurance of tomorrow and my future would seem pointless.
I don’t know what tomorrow holds. The next chapters of my life have yet to be written. However, I know that no matter where I am, not matter what circumstances come at me in life, I cannot escape the love of God. I’m going to take advantage of every moment I have on this earth so that my coming posts will have exciting titles.
So this post is intentionally untitled. The hours, days, weeks, months and years to come have left to be written. All of our futures are untitled. What are you going to do to make your next chapter have a meaningful title?