Okay, I know the title of this post is a little "markety"Anyways, for those of you that don't know my background, I've been in some sticky situations in the past. Near death situations.
I've buried some friends and prayed as bombs fell all around me and I wish you could have this experience as well.
What? Lance are you crazy?
No, I'm not. The fact of the matter is that I think a lot of us play it safe. Too safe.
We are logical, calculated and don't take unnecessary risks. We plan things out and only take action when we are assured of absolute success. However, some times we need to lay it all out there and trust in the Lord, it's an amazing and terrifying feeling, trust me. Maybe if more men got our excitement from God, our spouse or children or missionary work, we'd be less inclined to search out negative outlets like porn, affairs, gambling and whatever. But I digress.
So hear me out when I say that if you woke up tomorrow, started your morning commute to work and all of sudden there was a horrific accident. Say a train flew off an overpass onto the road you were driving and smashed into your car then everything goes black...
You wake up moments later, you see smoke and feel the heat from your car on fire and you smell gasoline and diesel in the air. You feel bruised and shaken but alive. You bang on the mangled door to your car and manage to spill out onto the road falling on your hands and knees. You look and the top of your car has been ripped off. All of a sudden, you hear screaming nearby and turn to see a mother and her child trapped in a car behind yours. You run to the car and pry the door open with a random piece of metal on this highway of carnage and then pull the woman and child out of the car to safety. Now your adrenaline fades as you stumble and fall back onto the roadway, you realize your head is bleeding and everything sounds like it's coming through noise canceling headphones. You blink in and out of consciousness as you hear sirens approaching. You blink again and paramedics attending to you.
You wake up a few hours later in the hospital and realize that you're alive. Your family and friends smile, hug you and explain that a freak unmanned train flew onto the highway and smashed into the rush hour traffic. You learn that you saved a woman and her child and among all this wreckage, miraculously no one died. Like a GI Joe cartoon. The Doctors come in and tell you that you have some minor bumps and bruises but that you are lucky to be alive, a few more inches lower and the train would have decapitated you.
Now, let's reflect.
You would not come out of that situation, go on all the talk shows and say the following:
"I'm so glad I'm alive, I'm going to spend more time watching Duck Dynasty"
"Thank God I'm safe. I'm really going to put an extra 10-20 hours in at the office each week."
"Before I blacked out, the last thing I was thinking was who my QB for Fantasy Football would be."
When someone has a near death experience, they don't say or do these things. You realize that you are on borrowed time and take inventory of what really matters.
Our "real" list would probably look like this.
1. Spend more time praying, serving others and being a living example of Christ.
2. Spend more time with my spouse and children, showing them how much I love and appreciate them.
3. Spend more time nourishing great relationships with friends and enjoying their company and friendship.
So here is the question? What would your list say? Write it down or take 30 seconds and run through it in your head.
Now, why do we have to wait for a near-death experience to come up with this list and start living our lives in this manner?
We don't.
If you have never down this exercise before, take 10 minutes and write down your list.
Then, start finding time each day to start living your list. Don't wait until the train comes for you.
- Esse Quam Videri -
Lance