I do not know about you, but to me, it seems like 2023 is flying by. It seems like a month or so ago that we were having Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas get-togethers.
The first hay cutting is past; local produce stores are offering strawberries and other spring/early summer items. Those of us living in the country, whether you are a farmer or not, can see the passing of time by driving by the fields and watching which fruits and vegetables are reaching the farmer’s markets.
In other time-passing indicators, the kids are on summer vacation, and churches are starting VBS programs. Communities are advertising the Fourth of July celebration. Teens are going to summer camps. Campgrounds are full, and people are planning vacations. It is June, the year is half over, and it seems like 2023 started only a few weeks ago.
Our church has a busy schedule. We had our church picnic yesterday. The teens are headed to camp next week, and a few days after their return, the Academy of Arts, a theatrical group, is coming to perform — all before July 1. It is summer, and the activities are ramping up. On the personal front, we have had three granddaughters graduate high school this year. We are taking them to an amusement park to celebrate. Julie and I also have a vacation planned for August. If all goes to plan, the summer promises to be busy.
An active summer is the norm for most families and churches. But before we know it, the kids will return to school, Thanksgiving and Christmas will roll by, and then New Year’s Day 2024. Around the time of New Year’s Day, all of us will have that moment when we wonder, “Where did the year go?”
As you can see, everything we have planned is fun and exciting. However, things sometimes go differently than planned. An unexpected expense cancels a trip to an amusement park or causes a vacation to be a few days shorter. An illness or injury could erase plans altogether. Sadly, for many of us, things do not go as planned. But, regardless, if plans go flawlessly or get canceled altogether, time still marches (flies) on.
Life is like this. Remember graduating high school and how some had their life planned out while others did not know what to think of the future? It would be interesting to survey graduates from years past and see how life worked out. I reckon a few did what they planned to do, yet I wonder how many are happy with their choices.
Either way, if life goes as planned or not, it will fly by.
This year is the 45th anniversary of my high school graduation. Since graduation, I’ve been married, had four children, and 14 grandchildren. On the work front, in those 45 years, I have managed a restaurant, worked security as a Pinkerton guard, did an enlistment in the Army, was a chauffeur, a grill order cook, a frozen food/dairy manager in a grocery store, a stock clerk at Walmart, worked and retired as a federal law enforcement officer, was a reporter for a newspaper, part owner of daycare for 20 years, a syndicated writer, and owner of an Amish livery service. In addition, since 1987, I have been a pastor (at Countryside since 1995). Of all those things, only preaching was on my to-do list when I left high school. Things went differently than planned. I have had many days I do not remember, and I have many days I will never forget. I am sure this is true with everyone, but one thing is certain; 1978 does not seem that long ago. Time flies.
On the spiritual front, time flies as well. Jeremiah 8:20, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”
This year may be flying by, but we know when 2023 will end. At the stroke of midnight when Dec. 31, 2023, becomes Jan. 1, 2024.
Life also flies by, but we have no set date for when our life will end. My sister died at 26, and our best man at our wedding went into eternity at 24. My grandmother lived into her 96th year. I am currently 63. Both my parents lived into their 80s.
What I am getting at is that life on this earth is short regardless of how long we live. When Pharaoh asked Jacob how old he was, Jacob responded, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been…” (Genesis 47:9). That’s right, a 130-year-old man said his days were few.
We have relationships, most of us have children, we have ways of making money, and most do not work the same job their entire lives. Yet, with all of us, life flies by, and we do not know when it will end.
Are you ready spiritually for the life that comes after this one? Remember how Jeremiah 8:20 ended? “We are not saved.” One decision we make in this life determines where we spend eternity. John 1:12, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”
The harvest is past, the summer is ended, are you saved?
Preacher Johnson is pastor of Countryside Baptist Church in Parke County, Indiana. Website: www.preachers-point.com; Email: [email protected]; Mail: 25 W 1200 N; Kingman IN 47952. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Timothy-Preacher-Johnson-101171088326638. All Scripture KJV.
