What Counts

If you have ever heard the saying, Make your dash count, you will understand this. We all are born and then we die.....what happens in between is what matters. I was brought into introspection this past week as a good friend went to be with the Lord. His UNwillingness to be negative was an inspiration. He was always upbeat and thankful for those around him who were lifting him up in prayer and was always thankful to God for his provision. He really invoked in me some examination of myself. Am I willing to submit to being that faithful, even unto death? We always point to Jesus and his sacrifice to be an example as we should, but all around us daily are those here on earth that are going through struggles with grace and dignity. From another set of observations, also was witness to something that we should all be aware of. I was talking to someone about another person very close to me. They were extolling the virtues of that person highly and said they were always positive and never down. While we all know that to "never" be down is impossible we must realize there are those around us that need to vent sometimes. That person I am close to I have cried with many times and cried for privately many more times. Although we see the strong exterior of a person, be aware that we all have the need to let go of the armor and let down the wall sometimes. I pray I can be available when someone needs a shoulder or an ear. I can point to many individuals in my life that have made the dash count. I can also look to those in my past that are no longer with us and see their influence even in my life today. I can also see in hindsight those I have come into contact with that never seemed to get on track, always doing want seemed to be irreversible things that did them and everyone around them no good at all. Some doing major harm to people long after they have left their lives. The two are in stark contrast to one another. Have you ever been to a funeral of a person that by all assumptions is not spending eternity in Heaven? I think that is the hardest funeral a pastor will ever have to do, yet I have seen may get saved because they don't want to be where that person is. Giving of our selves in this life, is giving to the Lord. Writing about virtues and giving is easier said than done in this world I know. We all have a plethora of distractions and built in excuses to side step integrity. We all have moments where we look back and wish we had said or done something. While in reality a choice to do nothing, IS an action in and of itself. You make the choices to not do the right thing. I urge all of us today to look deep inside and see what we can do (as the song says) Live like we were dying. One of the greatest testimonies I have ever heard was one sentence long. My brother in law died of cancer. He was more than an in law, he and my sister were married prior to my birth, he WAS my brother. As he lay dying some of his very last words before he went to hug Jesus, he looked at my sister and said "I Love you....but I Love Jesus more" What a testimony to a life that had come full circle, for a man that realized many years before his death, that God was more important than earthly things. That we are called to make this life count. That we are called not unto ourselves or unto our own desires, we are called, we are equipped, we are blessed to be able to do What Counts every day until; Jesus, our one true Love comes and takes us to be with him. Amen