Time Flies

How did this happen?

How in the world did we get here?  The only emergency credit card I have was about to expire so I got the new one in the mail.  I looked at the new expiration date and had to pause a minute.  I thought, "I have a card that will expire in the 2020s?"  That's, like, in the future.  

I am in a very strange time of life.  I am just an adult.  I'm not quite seasoned enough to have all the sage wisdom those near or at retirement have.  And I just don't quite have the energy that those just starting out have.  I'm in the middle.  But by the time you get to the middle, you begin to think about time differently.

After today, I will have a child headed to middle school.  That seems incredibly weird.  I have elementary kids -- not middle schoolers!  It's these realizations that people have what we used to call a "mid-life crisis."  I don't think I'll be buying any convertibles any time soon (what folks used to do during 'the crisis'), but we all certainly start looking for an answer to life's most important questions:  am I living for what I want to live for?  Is there more than the rate race?  

You see, and I don't mean to depress you, but here's something I know about you.  That number up there ^^^^^...

You've got one, too.  

That's right, you've got an expiration date.  Now, I hope it's a long, long ways off.  I'm sure it is.  But it's closer today than it was yesterday.  The realization of this for me is that I just want to be a part of what God is doing.  I want to know my life was a part of a much grander story than my own.  My story is too small.  We spend an awful lot of time on our story, which is really a 12-page short story in the midst of God's 1,500 page multi-volume novel printed in 100 languages.  The ending to my story is coming so quickly.  I mean, my card expires in the 2020's, y'all!  

Here's what I believe about us.  We find our best story in the midst of God's story.  When we live our own lives our own way we live in a story that is so limited and ends when we die, remembered by a few friends and family.  In God's story, we find our truest selves.  We are afforded the opportunity to participate in a story that spans eternity.

Would you pray the prayer of Habakkuk?  "Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known."  (Habakkuk 3:2)  Don't you want to be a part of something bigger in your time?  Times flying, but it's never too late to start a new story.