— Thriving Ivory

I didn’t look up those words, I wrote them from memory because this is my favorite song right now.

You don’t know it because you’d have to be 25 or younger and they won’t be reading the Pastor’s Corner in The Mirror. In his book, “Crazy Love,” Francis Chan titles his second chapter: “You might not finish this chapter.”

“You could die before you finish this chapter, I could die while you are reading it,” he writes.

The same is true about this article. It could be your last … what a way to go!

Chan goes on to say, “On the average day, we live caught up in ourselves. On the average day, we don’t consider God very much. On the average day, we forget that our life truly is a vapor. But there is nothing normal about today.”

How’s your day going? Pretty normal? Mine too. I got up and worked out, came into the office and started writing this article. I plan to attend the Red and White scrimmages tonight (Friday, Aug. 28) at THS. My daughter plays volleyball and my son is on the football team. I wonder what Rex and Lisa Elliott did on their last day of Jeremy’s life … I’m sure they were at the track meet when he won the javelin event … I wonder what else they did. I don’t think that’s morbid; I think that’s reality.

“It’s crazy that we think today is just a normal day to do whatever we want with,” Chan tells us.

The Bible says, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money,” James, Jesus’ brother writes. “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.”

Annie Dillard once said, “How we live our days … is how we live our lives.”

So what do I do? I received a message from my secretary the other day that was a request from a church member who wanted to make a dinner for someone in need in our community. I thought about it and I racked my brain for someone who needed a meal. I couldn’t think of a person that I knew who was hungry and without food that day, but I thought of several people who would benefit by skipping a meal or two! I recommended to the secretary that they get in touch with the Good Shepherd Thrift Shop in our community. They do an outstanding job or ministering to the needy in our community. I realized that I had to get to know some people in need, so I went down to Walmart and bought some things, and went looking for the homeless (not my idea, thank Mr. Chan). I found some. You will too.

Christians, we have to do more than just tell our kids we love them before they leave for the day. It has to go beyond even just feeding the hungry and providing coats for the cold weather that’s coming. Will you do something today that will make an impact for eternity?

As Tim Kizziar said, “Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.”

So what should you do today? You might pick up a copy of “Crazy Love” or better yet, read your Bible — there’s lot of ideas for helping people in there. Tonight, I will still be at the scrimmages but you can bet I’ll be looking for more important things to focus on rather than whether the ball gets across the net or someone makes a catch in the end zone.

We have some important issues facing our country and our community. Town hall meetings are taking place across America in regards to President Obama’s proposed health care program. Locally, voters soon will decide whether Sunday retail liquor sales should be allowed in Tonganoxie, all important stuff.

Here’s the thing, if we would put our time and energy into loving God and loving people the way the Bible suggests, what could that solve in our world? Maybe I’m just “dreaming of angels on the moon…”