Too Late

I am just about to go to a friend's funeral and I was thinking about the things I would say to him if I could talk to him one more time. Bobby died of a sudden heart-attack last week. I found out about it on Tuesday morning and was obviously shocked. What makes it even more shocking to me was that we were supposed to have lunch on Thursday of last week. I had been meeting with Bobby once a week for the last 9 months in a Leadership class and we were getting together because he had graduated from the class a month ago and we just wanted to catch up. I had thought about the meeting with Bobby. At the meeting, I was going to tell him how proud I was of him graduating and sticking with the class. I was going to encourage him to continue doing the things God had called him to. Finally, I was going to share with him how much I appreciate him and his friendship. The thing is that I saw him, the Sunday before he died and I had the opportunity to say those things but I thought to myself that I was going to see him on Thursday and I would just tell him then. Unfortunately, Thursday never came for Bobby.

So the last couple of days I have been thinking about how many opportunities we have to tell the special people in our lives, how we feel about them but we put it off until a "special" day whether its a meeting, a birthday, a party or any day in the future. With Valentine's day approaching, I wonder how many people keep from telling their special someone how much they love them because they are going to tell them on Valentine's day. I wonder if any parent has a child's birthday coming up and that is when they are going to tell them how much they love them or maybe its an upcoming graduation and thats when you are going to tell him or her how proud you are of them.

I was going to tell Bobby the things that were on my heart on Thursday but Thursday came too late. We all have people in our lives that we need to share with, how we feel about them and I want to encourage you to do it today because tomorrow may be too late.

Learning to Follow

Recently, my wife and I took our 14 month old daughter Taylor to the mall. Taylor is at the age where she is getting more and more independent so she did not want to be held or pushed around in a stroller. She wanted to walk on her own. She is a pretty good walker, so we decided that would be fine. Well we put her down and mom had to go ahead to return something so it was just Taylor and I. As we walked, I lead the way with Taylor following. Taylor did great except that every couple of steps she would get distracted and either stop or go in a different direction. This was right before Christmas so there were lights, shiny ornaments, wreaths and lighted trees everywhere. It wasn't that she was purposely being disobedient rather she was distracted by things that seemed so attractive. The truth is that if she could actually touch the things she was distracted by, she would get bored of them real quickly but she can always have an adventure and with her dad. Still, these unfulfilling distractions were causing her to follow her father less closely.

By now you have probably guessed where I am going with this. In my spiritual walk, I act just like Taylor. My heavenly father has called me to follow Him and He has taken me on this walk called life. However, there are many times when although I love my father, I stop following Him as closely as I should because I am distracted by life's "shiny" and attractive objects. I may not even notice it but as I follow my father, my pace starts slowing down and I start to wander from the path He has set for me because of unfulfilling distractions.

But the good news for Taylor and I both is that the father's love is unlimited. You see, I love Taylor more than I ever though I could. I could never leave her. I would never desert her. So as I watched my daughter wander from the path I had set for her, I stopped reached my hand out and called out to her to start following me again. Sometimes, I had to wait longer than others and there were even times that I had to walk back to where she had stopped and help her get going again. This is exactly what God does to us. Even when we wander and stop following Him, sometimes He waits and sometimes He even meets us where we are "stuck" and helps us get going again because He loves us, He will never leave us or forsake us.

So, my challenge is to learn how to follow. I need to learn how to follow my amazing loving father without getting distracted by any and every shine object that promises fulfillment. I must learn how to continue to put one step in front of another and follow Christ closely at all times. It is only then, that I can experience the fullness life with God rather than enjoying God a few steps at a time.