Spend A Life…May We Desire To Be…”Speeders”
There is a beautiful melody titled, “Spend A Life” by David Dunn, and one lyric from this melody goes like this:
“All I have is what You gave…..Show me how to spend a life/Show Me/Show Me/Show Me/Show Me/Show me how to spend a life.”
My dad was 57 years old when he died.
I said these words to others, after that fateful day, ” He lived a long life.”
Long Life…………..at 57 years.
What did I know!
What (if anything) constitutes “long life”?
How many years (of life) is enough?
The other day, I said, in just a few days, I will be a speeder.”
Julena asked me, “What’s a speeder?”
At church, there was, at one time, a group called the speeders, individuals who were 55+ .
In four days, I will be “a speeder,” and Darrell said on Saturday, maybe you could get that group started again, to which I naturally smirked.
AGE.
It’s relative they say….AGE…..you know. THEY must be young.
I recently learned that my girls talked after our recent visit in Europe, about how I had aged since they saw me before the time of Coronavirus. Will we forevermore use the 2020 virus as our calendar comparison? I sure hope not. I hope I live long enough to “outlive” the virus talk.
55 years old.
A speeder. A person who has lived life for five and one-half decades.
What does that even mean!!!! Truly, I am not even speeding until I reach 65 (miles per hour). Yes Darrell, (65 miles per hour is speeding, and not 55), but my driving speed, well that’s a whole different blog topic.
So, again, what does it mean to “speed” through life, and why do we want to do that (speed……through), and if we do find our days “speeding by,” then how should we SPEND A LIFE?
- We are born.
- We grow and change……pretty quickly in one year. If that’s not true, just look at Baby Jay and stand corrected.
- We head off to preschool, where we soak up all the knowledge offered as we grow up. If that’s not true, just look at Clementine and stand corrected.
- Then we head off to school, maturing, adapting, learning, changing. If that’s not true, just look at young Bracken and stand corrected.
- Then we finish high school and college as we begin life……….rushing, I do believe. If that’s not true, just ask Sydney and stand corrected.
- Ask any elderly person if life went by quickly, and most would agree, YES. If that’s not true, then when we arrive in heaven, just ask Grandma Hall who continually said while she was alive, “My body ages, but in my mind, my body is still in my twenties.” Yes, for sure, just ask Grandma Hall and stand corrected.
AGE.
The Actual Number of Years Lived…….
It truly is irrelevant to our decision to “Spend A Life.”
If we had the rest of this year to live, How would we choose to live? How would we choose to “SPEND” our days, our minutes, our hours……our TIME?
Years ago, when my former psychology teacher and mentor, Ms. Sharon Hail, faced those questions, she kept teaching students, despite the cancer raging inside her body, refusing to take her medication because she said it made her head woozy. I can still hear her walking with her defined limp down the Pulaski County High School hallway. Someday soon I will see Ms. Hail again, because she chose to accept Christ into her heart as I have.
When I was a teenager, when Bill Clarke reflected upon his past life, the time before he received Christ Jesus into his heart (when he was well into his eighties), Bill would stand and testify at church, as tears ran down his cheeks, saying, “Why did I wait so long?”
This year to live.
One year.
365 Days.
12 months.
52 weeks.
By my calculation, today is the 228th day of the year 2021.
Are we really living every single day?
Are we enjoying every single day, living for God, giving our best effort to everything God allows us to do?
The evangelist at church yesterday said that we need to be scattering seed, broadcasting liberty, grabbing handful after handful from the sack of seed God grants us, much as they scattered seed in the first century.
What seed did the evangelist refer to…….The Gospel Message. God’s Salvation Message as seen in John 3:16 & in Romans 10: 8-10. Yesterday, the evangelist also shared how the Bible promises in Isaiah that when the Word goes out, it does not return void. Thank You, God, for this truth.
In four days, I will be a “speeder”…….55-years-old. Darrell says I will receive 10% off on my meals and coffee. I tell him to hush, and he just smiles knowing he has only 45 days after my birthday to tease, 45 days until he too will join me and become “a speeder.”
BUT………This morning, four days away from my arrival to that new time period of my life, what if we changed the definition? What if we changed the connotation of the term “speeder” to one that meant the actions we focus upon every day as we work for the LORD within our one day? What if in our many todays, our “SPEEDING,” what if we SPEND A LIFE sharing God’s Word with all we encountered?
- Would we wish to be part of that group?
- Would we stand in line to join that group?
SPEEDERS.
- SPEEDING TO SHARE JESUS.
- SPEEDING TO WITNESS.
- SPEEDING TO TESTIFY ABOUT WHAT JESUS DID UPON THE CROSS.
- SPEEDING TO SHARE GOD’S GOSPEL MESSAGE.
- SPEEDING TO SEE OTHERS ACCEPT CHRIST AS SAVIOR.
- SPEEDING TO SEEK EVERY CONVERSATION AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE JESUS, TESTIFYING AS THE HOLY SPIRIT LEADS.
Thank You God for Speeders who shared Jesus Christ with me and shared what Jesus did upon the cross.
Thank You God for Saving my soul from utter darkness and eternity in hell.
Thank You God for sending mentors, Christians (godly sisters and brothers) to help me grow in my spiritual maturity.
Thank You God for Your Living Word, the Bible, for the way YOU Shape Me.
Thank You God that Your Word when spoken, when shared, how it does not return empty, void.
Thank You, God for YOUR SALVATION, for helping me SPEND A LIFETIME with YOU.
Help me God SPEED to share Jesus with others today.
Help me God LIVE for you and to WITNESS for You today…….living as if THIS DAY could be my last day.
Help me God SEE the joy found in living as a SPEEDER, but God don’t let me be satisfied with just living 10% of my time for YOU; God help me GIVE 100% of my day as a living sacrifice to YOU.
“So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
Isaiah 55:11
“Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have no money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without cost.
Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And delight yourself in abundance.
Incline your ear and come to Me.
Listen, that you may live;
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you,,
According to the faithful mercies shown to David.
Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
A leader and commander for the peoples.
Behold, you will call a nation you do not know,
And a nation which knows you not will run to you,
Because of the LORD your God, even the Holy One of Israel;
For He has glorified you.
Seek the LORD while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near.”
Isaiah 55: 1-6
As I close out my thoughts, please listen to a beautiful melody titled, “Wake Up Sleeper” by Austin French. In this song, there is one lyric that goes like this:
“Rise up sleeper, death doesn’t live here anymore.”
Father God, help me RISE UP & NOT SLEEP my way through the life You have given me.
Father, help me RUN with SPEED to share Jesus with others today.
Father, help me LIVE and WITNESS for You today…….as if THIS DAY could be my last day.
LORD, help me SEE the joy found in LIVING my life as a SACRIFICE to YOU.
God, help me SPEND MY LIFE……Living Only for YOU.