**What time is ________ coming home?

**When will you go to _________?

**Do you have time to _________?

**What day do you have time so we can ___________?

**It’s about time we ___________

.**I don’t have time today to _________.

**Surely he won’t  do __________ this time.

**I am not going to give __________ anymore of my time.

TIME.  One Day. One Hour. One Moment. One Lifetime. One Season. A Time to…….

Early this morning (at precisely 2am, we changed our clocks, moving them forward an hour.  However, if we did not wish to be that precise, then last night before heading off to bed, we moved our clocks forward one full hour.  Some would say we lost an hour of our Saturday night OR we lost an hour of sleep OR gained another hour of daylight, proving we did not accomplish as much yesterday (and now we have a reason) OR we did not sleep long enough (and now we know why we are groggy) OR we can do so much more this evening (and now our days will suddenly become more productive  after work).

TIME.    Do we ever have enough of it?  Do we ever have too much?  Do we ever wish for more?  Do we ever wish for it to move quicker?

As a child growing up in beautiful Indiana, we lived in a world where each area of the county could decide whether they would live on fast time or slow time.  Maybe you experienced a similar life of clock chasing.  When I was a child, often I shared time with my wonderful grandma, and she lived in one of the areas where different parts of her life was regulated by different time zones. She went to work on one timezone, went to church on another timezone, went to the fields on a different timezone, and enjoyed life within another timezone. (Now, I know what you are thinking. How could she have four different timezones? And, in truth, she did not, but to me—the child—the one thing I remember most about grandma is that she ALWAYS had time for everything.) Grandma truly was a master at “making time” for fun, at “finding time” for work, and at “knowing when it was time” for everything under heaven.

And so, in grandma’s kitchen, we lived by “fast” time, and the clock in the kitchen window showed the hour—–sixty minutes AHEAD of the wall clock hanging on the living room wall, & the living room clock showed the hour—–sixty minutes BEHIND the kitchen window clock.
And so, imagine the angst of a quirky child (ME) who liked to hang out with grandma and who liked to race from one room to the other room, racing to see if she could see the clocks reveal that she was not really one hour apart, but LESS THAN ONE HOUR APART. (I am most sure that grandma was incredibly happy to see me race from one room to another room, chasing time!!!)

TIME.

CHASING TIME.

ENOUGH TIME.

TOO LITTLE TIME.

MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME.

LIVING ON BORROWED TIME.

ALMOST TIME.

IT’S ABOUT TIME.

As we can imagine, the Bible has much to say about time, and the one passage most familiar is Ecclesiastes. “There is an appointed time for everything.    And there is a time for every event under heaven (3: 1-2).    Then we are given a litany of the events we should see occur at their “appointed time.”

“A time to…

To give birth and a time to die;

To plant and a time to uproot what is planted.

To kill and a time to heal;

To tear down and a time to build up.

To weep and a time to laugh;

To mourn and a time to dance.

To throw stones and a time to gather stones;

To embrace and a time to shun embracing.

To search and a time to give up as lost;

To keep and a time to throw away.

To tear apart and a time to sew together;

To be silent and a time to speak.

To love and a time to hate;

For war and a time for peace.

What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?
I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves. 
He has made everything appropriate in its time.   He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man[kind] will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime; moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—–it is the gift of God.    I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him.
That which is has been already and that which will be has already been, for God seeks what has passed by”  (Ecclesiastes 3: 1–15).

There is so much God wishes for us to see here in this third chapter of Ecclesiastes. Yes, there is a time for everything. Yes, there is much God has given us to do as we walk through life.  Yes, God has given every part of our life ENOUGH APPROPRIATE TIME. Yes, God has provided us a way to see the truth in our heart, to see the truth of our eternity. Yes, God has worked out time from the very beginning.  Yes, there is no better time than right now to rejoice and do good. Yes, God gifts each of us with food, drink, and labor. Yes, what God has created will last forever.  Yes, we cannot add to or take away from anything God has created. Yes, we are to fear God [for that is the beginning of wisdom]. YES, God was here before time and YES God will be here after our lifetime. GOD IS THE ALPHA & OMEGA, THE BEGINNING & THE END (Revelation 1: 8). YES, GOD SEEKS EACH ONE OF US TO KNOW HIM——EVERY PERSON WHO HAS LIVED, & WHO NOW LIVES, & WHO WILL LIVE AFTER US.

Yes, God’s Holy Word has so much to say about what we do with our time.

Today.  This 14th Day of March. This Hour. This Minute. This Start of a Brand New Day. This surely is the beginning of something new.  “There is an appointed time for everything…for every event under the sun” (3: 1-2).

There is no better time than right now to meet God.

THE QUESTION—–WILL WE TAKE TIME TO MAKE A DECISION (right now) FOR OUR ETERNAL DESTINATION—-WHILE THERE STILL IS TIME FOR OUR DECISION——BEFORE WE RUN OUT OF TIME?!!!!