This post is not about dieing. It’s about living. Ephesians 5:16 encourages us to redeem the time.
“Redeeming the time…”
Imagine that this is your last day on this dusty spot in the universe that we call “earth.” What would you do? Hopefully, at the end of the post you will decide to live every day as if it is the last one.
Since it would be too much to put everything in this thought I will only highlight only a few monumental things.
I would have my usual dialogue with God. Notice that I characterized it as a dialogue. I talk. He listens. He talks. I listen.
I would call Momma. She talks. I listen — period! (That’s a joke.) That’s a joke because she and I have great dialogues. I would also call Mom. Not Momma, but Mom. She’s my wife’s mother. Again, I would have a dialogue that usually results in a conversation with her and Dad. She is strictly penecostal. Actually, that is an incorrect characterization of who she is. She is strictly holiness and I am faithfully baptist. I will not expand on the difference between “faithful” and “strictly” but the point is that she and I are so much alike in our volcanic temperments which have been seasoned by the fruit of Galatians 5:22&23. Yes, God has succeeded in calming us down when we need it.
I would encourage the Church where I am the pastor, to call JL as their new pastor and the Church would accept my encouragement. Yes, we are Missionary Baptist and we tend to form pulpit committees in order to find new pastors and then we call whoever we want anyway but Life Step Baptist is different. We would not need a pulpit committee. Our Church knows and love JL&RL and besides that, God has clearly placed His hands on those two.
I would spend the bulk of my time with Betty. We would spend it at the house not dieing but living. I would ask her if she needs anything and she would say, “No”, because I have given her everything that she has ever requested of me. We would probably order a Chef’s salad from the local restaurant and eat it together and talk about.
My children. Yes. My children, the object of some of my deepest passions. I would not leave any instructions for them because they already know what to do. Just love and live, and live and love. I wrote an published song about it called, “Perry’s Groove”. It’s message is to just live. It goes:
“Sun and moon and wind and rain,
planets moving all the same —
Everybody has a groove.
Reach inside and feel it move.You can win. Don’t give in —
if you move to the groove.
Love and live. Live and love.
Love and live. Live and love.Light and darkness, day and night,
know it feel it. It’s alright.
Health and wealth and wealth and,
love and hate,
It’s your choice and choose your fate.You can win. Don’t give in —
if you move to the groove.
Love and live. Live and love.
Love and live. Live and love.Everybody has a groove,
reach inside and feel it too.
Health and wealth and family,
it’s a rhythm. You will see.You can win. Don’t give in —
if you move to the groove.
Love and live. Live and love.
Love and live. Live and love.Winter, spring and summer fall,
grooving with you all and all.
Reach inside. It’s alright.
Moving onward to the light.You can win. Don’t give in —
if you move to the groove.
Love and live. Live and love.
Love and live. Live and love.”
I accepted Christ according to Romans 10:9&10 so I am adequately prepared for an eternity with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. What about you?
What would you do?
PS: “K” She knows who she is. She can have the 20 or so passwords so that she can get into all of my accounts and get all of the pertinent information that the family might need to do whatever they need to do. She can get the IT manuals that I wrote for my retirement job in case the people who work there cannot find them. Also a special thanks to everyone who befriended me. I am eternally grateful.
It is not about dieing but about living.
Life Step Ministries 