Stop the World!

“Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth?” (Job 7:1)

I am sure that everyone reading this has expressed this same concern many times over. The world we live in has provided us with so many modern “conveniences” that are supposed to make our lives easier, but the reverse is actually true. We are so busy that it overwhelms even the most “organized” among us. Then there are those like me who are about as organized as a tornado. I get so far behind sometimes that I feel like I am just being driven from one event to the next. About all I can do most of the time is say, “What’s next?” Usually it is something that is due in the next 10 minutes, and I feel like I am scrambling to get to it.

We leave Friday for our annual missions trip to the tiny Caribbean nation of Belize. There is a ton of stuff to do in preparation for the trip, and with just a couple of days to go, I am in that stage of overwhelming frustration. But just like every time, God will come through with a couple of things, and I will burn the midnight oil, and it will all get done somehow. Then something really awesome will kick in for the 11 days we will be in Belize. Life here will go on without me, and there won’t be a blasted thing I can do about any of it. I think sometimes the reason why we get so busy is really rooted in the idea of our own importance rather than just the “to do list”. Most all of us think we are indispensable, and that life as we know it would collapse if we were not involved in every decision and every detail. Then I go out of the country. When we are in Belize, there is basically only one thing per day that we do. It might be a trip to a Mayan ruin or a day spent ministering to the youth at the Christian High School. But that is it. There is no “list” to be tackled. The “list” that I left behind in Kansas City just sits there. It is like I get to hit the “reset” button on life, because most of what is on the list that I left behind goes away while I am gone. After 11 days, what was urgently needed to be done either is handled by someone else or else it is determined that it really wasn’t as urgent as I thought. By the time I get back, things will be ready for me to just start over on the madness.

Time management is a big issue for our society, so much so that we spend billions of dollars on planners and iPhone apps. But God never has a time management issue. The legendary Packers coach Vince Lombardi was famous for a lot of things, including his bulldog insistence on his team being on time for everything. It led to what is called “Lombardi Time”. When a meeting was scheduled, everyone was expected to be there at least 15 minutes before the posted time. If you are on time for a meeting, you are late, and if you are late, you are cut from the team. The reason he required everyone to be there 15 minutes beforehand is to guard against the unexpected. A flat tire was no excuse. If you had left the house in time to plan for such contingencies, you would not be late. I would never have lasted a day as a Green Bay Packer in the Vince Lombardi era, even if I was the greatest football player in the league.

God is never late and seldom early. He does not have to worry about arriving 15 minutes early to plan for the unexpected. Nothing takes God by surprise. His appointment calendar and planning list never has any missing or unfulfilled items. As the verse above says, we all have a scheduled meeting with him someday. No matter what is on your to-do list, you will keep that appointment. On that day, it won’t matter if you picked up the laundry or cleaned the gutters. The world will stop that day for you – whether it is at the rapture of the church for all of us, or your final day. We will face him and give account of our lives. Those who do not know Jesus as their Saviour will have to give account of their sins. It will be a fearful thing for them on that day to “fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). Since Jesus paid for my sins, I won’t worry about that. We will give account of our service after we are saved. I trust it will be “with joy and not with grief” (Hebrews 13:17), but that depends on you.