Time and Death...

Two weeks ago, I ran my first race in over a year.. I said no pressure to myself.. This is just going to be fun, but once I heard that gun go off, something in me turned into steam engine.. My engine started to steam and I was running like a 7 minute pace trying to keep up with these crazy runners, and my body was like um excuse me,, you have no more steam to pump this body so lets slow down.. So I slowed down, and I ran that 2 miles feeling the pressure of trying to keep up.. 1.5 miles in I could hear someone behind me, which is seriously annoying if you are a runner. There is this thing inside you that doesn't want that person to out run you.. But this lady looked like she was pacing herself and doing great, and I on the other hand was trying to not walk.. And she over took me.. She came in 20 seconds in front of me.. This was a tiny race, so you never know if I would get an award, but this lady that came in front of me received a medal and I said to myself..

"Well next year, she will be one year older".. and then it hit me.. Crap!! SO WILL I!!

I have been thinking about that since then.. I cant escape time.. and you cant either.. Time is the same for me as it is for you.. We both live with time.. It sets up all types of expectations and standards..Time controls us because the more time that goes by the more you age.. The more you age, the closer you get to death.. Which is something you nor I can escape either..

We live this life like we are not living with time... It is something that we are always look at, but yet we act like it doesn't even exist.. and then I started to read Ecclesiastes this week.. and I'm like wow..

 ² The same destiny ultimately awaits everyone, whether righteous or wicked, good or bad, ceremonially clean or unclean, religious or irreligious. Good people receive the same treatment as sinners, and people who make promises to God are treated like people who don’t.³ It seems so wrong that everyone under the sun suffers the same fate. Already twisted by evil, people choose their own mad course, for they have no hope. There is nothing ahead but death anyway. ⁴ There is hope only for the living.

When I read the book of Ecclesiastes, is doesn't make me sad.. It makes me think! How do I want to live the rest of my time here on earth.. Time affects me but it doesn't control me, but for some death and time controls how you live your life, but for me death doesn't control me because I have hope.. There is only hope for the living

And then I get to this passage.. They just speak to me on the weakness of life here on this earth, but more importantly how you should live your life now while at the same time looking in your future..

12 Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore.” ² Remember him before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is dim to your old eyes, and rain clouds continually darken your sky. ³ Remember him before your legs—the guards of your house—start to tremble; and before your shoulders—the strong men—stoop. Remember him before your teeth—your few remaining servants—stop grinding; and before your eyes—the women looking through the windows—see dimly.

⁴ Remember him before the door to life’s opportunities is closed and the sound of work fades. Now you rise at the first chirping of the birds, but then all their sounds will grow faint.
⁵ Remember him before you become fearful of falling and worry about danger in the streets; before your hair turns white like an almond tree in bloom, and you drag along without energy like a dying grasshopper, and the caperberry no longer inspires sexual desire. Remember him before you near the grave, your everlasting home, when the mourners will weep at your funeral.
⁶ Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well. ⁷ For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

We may have nothing in common with each other, but these two things are something that are in common with us.. I pray that you have and live with the same hope that I have.. The blessed Hope.. The Eternal Hope.. The Everlasting Hope.. Jesus is my Hope..


¹⁶ “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.