38 Minutes to Live

J-man

Let's Go Brandon!!!
Staff member
...posting this article here from a former high school classmate who is a regular contributing writer for the local newspapers in my hometown. Not only does he write but is also quite an accomplished guitarist. He is also a broadcast announcer for local football games and events. In other words, he is well liked in the community.

Randy Young -


My column for this week:

38 Minutes to Live

It’s a regular day, a day just like many other days. Nothing special, just another day. All of the things you’ve ‘got’ to do are still out there - trying to catch up, trying to get your work done, get the kitchen cleaned, the laundry done, trying take care of all the ‘terribly important’ stuff in your ‘terribly important’ existence.

It’s all just too much, it sometimes seems.

Then suddenly, over your cell phone and every media outlet, the following message is delivered everywhere, including to you:

BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER.

“Wait, what? ‘Not a drill?’ Does that mean…can that mean…we’re actually being bombed?,” you think to yourself, a knot forming in your gut. “This is real? My town is about to be destroyed? My home is about to be destroyed? My friends…my family, about to die?”

“I’m about to die?!”

You have no idea when or exactly where this missile is going to hit, but suddenly, incredibly and undeniably it is coming. And suddenly, incredibly and undeniably all of that ‘terribly important’ business you were so worried about just a moment ago doesn’t seem so terribly important at all.

We’ve all read the stories about this precise scenario playing out in Hawaii recently. Literally, people were convinced their lives were about to come to an end. For 38 minutes, everyone there experienced what they truly believed were going to be their last living moments.

One lady, a military mom, called her best friend, an Army nurse in a big hospital, looking for some kind of reassurance that it was all a mistake, certain if anyone would know what was going on it would be her friend.

“We’ve been told to cover exposed skin and stay away from windows,” was the reply. “I don’t know what to do or say…I’m sorry.”

So this mom gathered her kids into their living room, just a few minutes earlier a point of family discord because of the mountain of dirty clothes residing in it, and shared what was happening. Through tears, the oldest brother, 15, went outside and got the family’s dog, so they could all be together at the end.

So the family sat, holding hands, singing Amazing Grace.

Put yourself in their position. Can you imagine all of the things that would go through your mind if you knew with all confidence you only had 38 minutes to live?

All of the people you had encountered in your life that you had either been ugly or unfair to – and now there’s no way to make amends.

The people – especially young people- you could have impacted through a more positive example from you – and now there’s no way to go back and simply walk the walk more than just talk the talk.

All of the friends you had lost contact with over the years that you had promised yourself you were going to reconnect with – and now time had simply run out.

The family members you had arguments with over ‘important’ things like that room full of dirty clothes – and now you can’t simply say ‘I’m sorry.’

The people you should’ve reached a hand out to – and now you’ll never be able to.

That ‘thing’ you’d always wanted to do. Learn to play an instrument. Go hiking in the mountains. Go sailing. Walk the battlefield your ancestors fought on. Visit that place you’ve always wanted to see – but now it’s too late for any and all of it.

Over and over again, the one thing that came out of the situation from Hawaii was people stopping to have a sincere heart to heart with God.

I’m reminded of the letter my own great-great grandfather wrote from the banks of Peachtree Creek before the Battle of Atlanta in 1864 when he talked about how many soldiers were getting baptized – “It’s amazing how people seem to find God when they believe they’re about to die.”

Even though it turned out their 38 minute window on life was a false alarm, the people in Hawaii were actually given a great gift. They had a real opportunity to come face to face their own mortality, and instead of saying ‘eh, I’ll get to that later’ as so many of us do every day, many of them stepped away with a new vigor regarding the things that really, truly matter in their lives.

Many are now pledging themselves to not sweat the small stuff – like the dirty clothes. And when you get right down to it, about 99% of the ‘stuff’ we all deal with is small stuff.

The thing is this – none of us know when our 38 minute countdown starts. Some reading these words have that countdown timer already ticking but just don’t know it.

So I ask you, what is the difference between knowing and not knowing - other than what will be done with the time we know we do have?

Maybe it’s 38 minutes. Maybe it’s 38 days. Maybe it’s 38 months, or even 38 years. Does it matter? None of us will be here forever – but we all have the time in front of our face.

We’re here one moment, and in the blink of an eye we’re not. Every moment is priceless. Perhaps it’s time for each of us to evaluate what is ‘terribly important’ in our lives.

The clock is ticking. We shouldn’t need an incoming missile to remind us of that fact.
 
Mat 22:34 But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, gathered themselves together.
Mat 22:35 One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him.
Mat 22:36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?”

>>>Mat 22:37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
Mat 22:40 The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”<<<

Mat 25:31 “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.
Mat 25:32 Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
Mat 25:33 He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Mat 25:34 Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
Mat 25:35 for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in.
Mat 25:36 I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’
Mat 25:37 “Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink?
Mat 25:38 When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you?
Mat 25:39 When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’
Mat 25:40 “The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Mat 25:41 Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;
Mat 25:42 for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink;
Mat 25:43 I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
Mat 25:44 “Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’
Mat 25:45 “Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’
Mat 25:46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
 
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