The Madness Begins

It's perhaps one of my favorite times of the sports calendar - the opening 4 days of the NCAA Basketball tournament.  People go crazy... office pools, bracket-busters, psycho fans, underdogs, CINDERELLA and the fun goes on and on. The news reported that companies all over America lose millions in productivity during March madness. Man, I love it!

The truth is it doesn't take much for people... no scratch that, for ME to get excited about basketball. Even though I've broken my foot TWICE (in the same spot) since August playing b-ball,  it's my favorite sport period. Obsession is an understatement.

So why is it that I can give my attention and time so easily to the "madness," and yet can struggle in my passion for God? This is not a criticism of basketball, it's an honest assessment of the struggles of man. God made us to obsess over Him, not His creation or other things that "bling" for our attention. Where it all goes wrong is when I (we) constantly go crazy following and sacrificing in pursuit of everything but God. Why must we have to be reminded that NOTHING WILL SATISFY US EXCEPT GOD. 

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." Matthew 13:45-46

"But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved." Ephesians 2:4-5

Time is ticking!

I have a moral dilemma each Monday night. Do I watch Heroes or 24 at 9pm? Man, that's a tough choice. I find both shows pretty entertaining and fascinating on many levels. I think the concept of 24 (a whole season being 24 hours... every episode 1 hour in "show" time) is amazingly simple and creative. A lot happens to Jack Bauer in the span of 1 episode - 1 hour or 60 minutes or 3600 seconds. Unfortunately, it's not close to reality. Heroes is in it's own league of storytelling. My favorite character is Hiro Nakamora, the one who can control time with a simple eye blink.

Anyways... the whole subject of time is in my face a lot lately. It seems that I can't keep up with time - the days and weeks just fly by! In our planning for the new service at church (Overflow), it seems like this last year has been a few weeks. My children are growing extremely fast and that makes me sad. Come June, Erin and I will have been at FBC Kings Mountain 10 years. What happened to my teen years? what am I saying? what happened to my 20s? lol.

I'll get to the point. Psalm 39:5 declares, "You have made my days a mere handbreath; the span of years is as nothing before You. Each man's life is but a breath." My life is a breath. Take a breath... didn't take long did it? Talk about perspective. It's starting to sink in. Sometimes I wish we could freeze time like Hiro Nakamora... or even live life like a DVR. Pausing when we want to, skipping the commericials, etc. To God, time is nothing. To God, the time of my life is much less than nothing. Wow. I need to make the most of every moment (and breath): my witness, pursuing God's will and heart, and more! 

In the spirit of 24... tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock...