I always hate it when I am proven to be wrong and Karen turns out to be right. I think most men feel that way. Unfortunately, it happens more often than I would like to admit.
One of the more foolish things I ever did was that first kayak trip down the Big Muddy River. It was late afternoon and I was bored. This adventure had been on my mind for some time. I had not really researched the course of the river but knew about how far it was from below the dam where I would put in to the highway where I would stop. Given my paddling speed, it seemed that 2-3 hours should be plenty of time. Karen told me I was crazy and that I should not start this trip so late in the day. But because I was stubbornly insistent, she dropped me off at the launch point. I had between 4 and 5 hours of sunlight left. Starting down the stream, everything was going well. I knew what I was doing. I would call her to come and pick me up at the bridge where the river went under the highway in a few hours.
The first submerged log slowed me down. A little while later, grounding on a sandbar and then getting stuck in some quicksand slowed me down even more (not to mention scaring me and making me incredibly tired). The journey became a series of mishaps as I discovered logjams created by fallen trees and brush every 100-200 yards. Even though the river was frequently 40-50 wide, there seemed to be one jam after another.
Sometimes, I could find a way to paddle through, going over, under or around limbs and logs. At other times, I would have to paddle to shore and portage around. Then of course, there were the times I misread the river and wound up with a cockpit full of water, abandoned ship, and had to haul the kayak to shore. I would dump the water out and portage around the obstacle (fortunately this occurred less and less frequently as I learned from my mistakes, ever so slowly).
I was getting tired. Not from paddling; but from sinking, getting stuck in quicksand and mud, and from portaging. Quite often a portage included lifting the kayak over a steep bank that was over my head and then working my way back down.
I continued to make progress, but the going was much slower than I had imagined. This wasn't at all like my trips out on the open water of the lake, or even around the shoreline. It was start, stop, and start again. I was tired and my muscles ached. The sun was sinking low enough in the sky that I couldn't see it over the sides of the tree-lined bank. But there was plenty of light and I was beginning to hear the sound of cars from the highway.
Unfortunately, the sound of automobiles carries a long way down the deep banks of a stream in the woods. I kept on paddling, thinking I was almost there, but the sounds of the highway never seemed to get any nearer. Part of this was due to twists and turns in the river that actually did bring me nearer to the highway, then further away. Part of it was due to unrealistic hope on my side. But the truth was that I was much farther from my destination than I knew. The sun was finally going down. In a matter of just a few minutes it was so dark I could no longer see well enough to paddle down the river. For the last time that day, I had to abandon ship. I pulled it up on a high bank where I knew it would be safe. Then, in nearly total darkness, I hiked out of the woods and called on my cell phone for someone to come and pick me up. The next day, I discovered the distance down the river to the highway was about twice as far as I had originally estimated. I also found out that I made it about half way. I simply ran out of time before I could get it done.
Everyone has 24 hours of 60 minutes each, of 60 seconds each, every day (or 86,400 seconds per day). Most of us have difficulty managing those seconds. A few highly gifted, or perhaps highly disciplined people are always right on time and allow exactly the right amount of time for every task. But most people are time challenged. Some of them are so overwhelmed by all the things they have to do and the limited amount of time that they simply give up and attempt nothing, or at least very little and waste most of their time wringing their hands and exclaiming they don't have enough time to get things done. Some of us (I include myself in this group) tend to be overly optimistic on who much we can get done in a limited time. We bite off more than we can chew, an unanticipated problem comes up, and we fail.
Life is like that. Most of us have things we need to do which we are waiting too late in the day to finish. You may have some relationships that you need to restore. There may be something important you really need to tell someone. You may need to forgive someone or ask their forgiveness. And time is running out. Most importantly, your relationship with God may not be what it needs to be. Many of us are so busy with day-to-day life that we put off our relationship with Him. We intend to take care of it, but we think we have lots of daylight left. We really don't know when the sun will go down on our lives.
Jesus told the story of a successful farmer who was in this situation. His chief concern was his farm. He decided to tear down his barns and build larger, new ones. He had great plans for his future. Then, when he had finally made his farm the best one for miles around, he would relax and enjoy life. But for now, he had work to do. That night, God said to him, "'You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?' So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.' And He said to His disciples, 'for this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.' (Luke 12.20-23)."
As you think about your life and the time you have, make sure of your relationship with God. None of us are guaranteed tomorrow. We spend too much time worrying about insignificant things that no one will remember one hundred years from now. Take care of what is truly important, today. Make sure that you spend your time with Christ the Lord. Don't find yourself having to abandon ship half way down the River of Life instead of paddling to the end.
No comments:
Post a Comment