Hey guys,
A good friend from my past life just died. I was inspired to write this, hopefully it encourages someone...
It has been years since I have been in contact with my old friends…I thought that I would have got the call a lot sooner than yesterday. When I heard the words, “I don’t know if you have heard yet…” I knew. I started wondering who it was. Was it Ryan, Sharkie, Paulie, or Meeker? Could it have been Erin, Donny, or Tony? Names started racing through my mind. You see, in the sport of Skydiving, it is only a matter of time! The odds are stacked against you.
Apparently they had organized an end of the day jump; a sunset load as we called them. Donny had done a “hook turn” that he did not recover from. The hook turn is a high performance low altitude turn. You dive your canopy at the ground—pulling out of the dive at the last minute. The dive generates speed, which allows a person to fly inches above the ground for hundreds of feet. The hook turn is also the number one killer in skydiving. I miss my friend Donny…I miss them all. But, things have changed. Most of them think I am nuts! After all I walked away from skydiving and BASE jumping to…follow Jesus. None of them wanted to hear it; they listened for a moment, looked at me with a smile, and continued to load their lives into the plane. In fact, I still remember Donny’s response, “Dude, I believe in Buddah…you know me, I do not want anyone telling me how to live my life!” Which is probably why he never married his girl friend, and never had kids at nearly fourty years old.
So how do I live? Do I live like I do not want someone telling me what to do? Do you? All to often we think of this Christian life, as a life where I am told what to do, instead of what it is, a better option—the best option, that even comes with directions on how to get there. We still stand with our fists clinched to the heavens, never releasing our lives into significance. Donny was a fun guy, whose legacy will be just that. In one instance he has vanished—leaving behind no kids, and no wife. Beyond being a fun guy, what will he be remembered for? How did his life make a lasting difference? Will his actions echo through eternity? Yes, they will. You see, Donny never wanted to bow his knee to Christ, he never wanted to submit himself to a lordship that called him to action. Now Donny is dead, and in hell. Yes, I said it, my dear friend Donny is in hell. His decision to serve only self has granted him his desire to forever be distant from his Creator. As I drove down the road yesterday, wiping tears from my eyes, I could not help but think, “God, that could have been me.” But the reality is, it will be me. I will die. My life will cease to exist here on earth. The only significant thing that will remain is the echoes that my life brings in God’s eternal kingdom!
Sometimes we just get stuck at salvation…we never move on…we never wrap our hands around the fact that God has saved us, and now he wants to use us to change the world! In His word there is a word that we can shrug back from: works. We instantly think, “I am saved by faith, not by works.” You are right. But have we considered this: we are not saved by our good works, but we are saved for good works. His word reads that we are created for good works, set apart for zealous good works, and that we should be careful to maintain good works ( Ephesians 2:10, Titus 2:14, Titus 3:8). His word also tells us that through our good works, which the world observes, they will glorify God (1 Peter 2:12).
God wants to use you! He wants to sanctify your life to His purposes and will, so that he can change the world though the way you live. There is nothing wrong with saying, “God prepare me for good works…purify the will of my heart, transform my motives into yours, and then use me God!” The Lord desires to use us for His purposes; His plan is that our lives will be filled with the excitement that only faith can bring. Yes, His will is exciting! Trust me I know excitement. I used to hang off of the bottom of flying planes, jump out of helicopters and hot air balloons, I have lept off of the Foresthill bridge (720′) a few times, and rodeod a giant stuffed monkey out of a plane. But, in the realm of the eternal echo…it all means nothing! What does mean something is my love for God, the wife and children that I have loved and been there for, the mouths that I have fed, the love that I have given, the faith that I have lived, the truth that I have spoke, the disciples that I have made, the hand that I have reached out, the good works that have been done, and the souls that ultimately have been saved. I can’t even begin to tell you (although I will attempt to by blogging) about the ever increasing excitement that I have seen during the years that I have been surrendered to Christ! I look back on my old life, and think, “how boring!” I have no desire within me for the false anymore; I WANT THE REAL!
Fellow Christian, on the fence believer, make believer, and the person who outright rejects any form of lordship; God created you with purpose. His plan was not to save you so that you could be a puckered cheek puppit who never feels alive! The God of all creation has incredible things in-store for you; however, they are all to be found when we abandon ourselves to His will, and follow Him with reckless faith! He will not perform them when we are in our pride—proving to ourselves and others how righteous we are. God knows how righteous we are, after all, He is the one who made us righteous. His word tells us that He uses the foolish ones, the ones who do not want to share His glory, rather the ones who want to give Him glory! It is our choice, we can live for the god of self, or the God who made self. One will pass away and the other will not. The only thing that will remain, the only thing that will matter, is the eternal echo of your life. It is the only thing that will remain!
Interested to hear your feedback on this topic
A good friend from my past life just died. I was inspired to write this, hopefully it encourages someone...
It has been years since I have been in contact with my old friends…I thought that I would have got the call a lot sooner than yesterday. When I heard the words, “I don’t know if you have heard yet…” I knew. I started wondering who it was. Was it Ryan, Sharkie, Paulie, or Meeker? Could it have been Erin, Donny, or Tony? Names started racing through my mind. You see, in the sport of Skydiving, it is only a matter of time! The odds are stacked against you.
Apparently they had organized an end of the day jump; a sunset load as we called them. Donny had done a “hook turn” that he did not recover from. The hook turn is a high performance low altitude turn. You dive your canopy at the ground—pulling out of the dive at the last minute. The dive generates speed, which allows a person to fly inches above the ground for hundreds of feet. The hook turn is also the number one killer in skydiving. I miss my friend Donny…I miss them all. But, things have changed. Most of them think I am nuts! After all I walked away from skydiving and BASE jumping to…follow Jesus. None of them wanted to hear it; they listened for a moment, looked at me with a smile, and continued to load their lives into the plane. In fact, I still remember Donny’s response, “Dude, I believe in Buddah…you know me, I do not want anyone telling me how to live my life!” Which is probably why he never married his girl friend, and never had kids at nearly fourty years old.
So how do I live? Do I live like I do not want someone telling me what to do? Do you? All to often we think of this Christian life, as a life where I am told what to do, instead of what it is, a better option—the best option, that even comes with directions on how to get there. We still stand with our fists clinched to the heavens, never releasing our lives into significance. Donny was a fun guy, whose legacy will be just that. In one instance he has vanished—leaving behind no kids, and no wife. Beyond being a fun guy, what will he be remembered for? How did his life make a lasting difference? Will his actions echo through eternity? Yes, they will. You see, Donny never wanted to bow his knee to Christ, he never wanted to submit himself to a lordship that called him to action. Now Donny is dead, and in hell. Yes, I said it, my dear friend Donny is in hell. His decision to serve only self has granted him his desire to forever be distant from his Creator. As I drove down the road yesterday, wiping tears from my eyes, I could not help but think, “God, that could have been me.” But the reality is, it will be me. I will die. My life will cease to exist here on earth. The only significant thing that will remain is the echoes that my life brings in God’s eternal kingdom!
Sometimes we just get stuck at salvation…we never move on…we never wrap our hands around the fact that God has saved us, and now he wants to use us to change the world! In His word there is a word that we can shrug back from: works. We instantly think, “I am saved by faith, not by works.” You are right. But have we considered this: we are not saved by our good works, but we are saved for good works. His word reads that we are created for good works, set apart for zealous good works, and that we should be careful to maintain good works ( Ephesians 2:10, Titus 2:14, Titus 3:8). His word also tells us that through our good works, which the world observes, they will glorify God (1 Peter 2:12).
God wants to use you! He wants to sanctify your life to His purposes and will, so that he can change the world though the way you live. There is nothing wrong with saying, “God prepare me for good works…purify the will of my heart, transform my motives into yours, and then use me God!” The Lord desires to use us for His purposes; His plan is that our lives will be filled with the excitement that only faith can bring. Yes, His will is exciting! Trust me I know excitement. I used to hang off of the bottom of flying planes, jump out of helicopters and hot air balloons, I have lept off of the Foresthill bridge (720′) a few times, and rodeod a giant stuffed monkey out of a plane. But, in the realm of the eternal echo…it all means nothing! What does mean something is my love for God, the wife and children that I have loved and been there for, the mouths that I have fed, the love that I have given, the faith that I have lived, the truth that I have spoke, the disciples that I have made, the hand that I have reached out, the good works that have been done, and the souls that ultimately have been saved. I can’t even begin to tell you (although I will attempt to by blogging) about the ever increasing excitement that I have seen during the years that I have been surrendered to Christ! I look back on my old life, and think, “how boring!” I have no desire within me for the false anymore; I WANT THE REAL!
Fellow Christian, on the fence believer, make believer, and the person who outright rejects any form of lordship; God created you with purpose. His plan was not to save you so that you could be a puckered cheek puppit who never feels alive! The God of all creation has incredible things in-store for you; however, they are all to be found when we abandon ourselves to His will, and follow Him with reckless faith! He will not perform them when we are in our pride—proving to ourselves and others how righteous we are. God knows how righteous we are, after all, He is the one who made us righteous. His word tells us that He uses the foolish ones, the ones who do not want to share His glory, rather the ones who want to give Him glory! It is our choice, we can live for the god of self, or the God who made self. One will pass away and the other will not. The only thing that will remain, the only thing that will matter, is the eternal echo of your life. It is the only thing that will remain!
Interested to hear your feedback on this topic
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