Live Like You Were Dying


This is me.  Atop a mechanical bull.  Days before I turned 60...

In all honesty, just hoisting me up there was hard work - and yet, this picture shows me moments before the operator turns the thing on.  I think I look as if I'm praying.  Maybe I was...

...

This morning I woke up thinking about the golfer Payne Stewart.  Stewart was an American golfer who did very well on the PGA circuit, and who always - always wore knickers when he golfed.  I liked him.

But at 44 years old, Payne found himself in a Lear Jet heading from Florida to Dallas.  Sadly, less than 15 minutes after take off, as the plane climbed to a cruising altitude of 39,000 feet, air traffic control lost contact with the pilot and all those aboard.  It was never reestablished.

It is assumed that somehow the plane lost pressurization, and at that altitude, passengers would have first slipped into a state of confusion, then they would have lost consciousness, and finally, without enough oxygen - they would have died.  It wouldn't have taken very long.

But strangely, the plane, which had been set to "autopilot" continued to fly.  And for more than 4 hours, and over thousands of miles, America watched until the plane finally ran out of fuel then plummeted to the ground in a near supersonic nose-dive into a farm located in South Dakota.

I tell this story, because when Payne woke up that morning...he had no idea.

And that reminds me of a story Jesus tells in Luke 12:

"The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.  He thought to himself, 'What shall I do?  I have no place to store my crops.'  Then he said, 'This is what I'll do.  I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones and there I will store my surplus grain.  And I'll say to myself, 'You have plenty of grain laid up for many years.  Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.'  But God said to him, 'You fool!  This very night your life will be demanded from you." (Luke 12:16-20)

Death.

It comes unbidden.  It comes without warning.  It comes, often, when we least expect it.

Yet so many of us put off things we should be doing TODAY, foolishly counting on a tomorrow.

But what if there WAS NO TOMORROW.  What if today was your last day?

Tim McGraw sings a song titled, "Live Like You Were Dying" and I think it was probably the impetus for my bull-riding escapade.  It talks about doing things like skydiving, rocky mountain climbing, and 2.7 seconds on a bull named fumanchu.  But those are just "earthy" things.  

Tim also sings about loving deeper, speaking sweeter, and granting the forgiveness he'd been denying...

THOSE are the things I'm focused on today.

Because just like Payne, we never know if this might be our last day.  And if we've been putting off getting "right" with God, or showing love, kindness or mercy to the people in our lives until TOMORROW, then maybe this post is just to encourage you to do it TODAY.

Because you never know...









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