If I Only Had More Time!
God, how I wish I had more time. No matter where we go, we continually hear that phrase. Our lives seem so hectic…there’s always so much to do! We seem to constantly be running in circles. We have more things to do than we have time to do them.
God, how I wish I had more time…I wonder how many of you, when you read that sentence, thought of it in the way I really intended. Many times, we use the word “god” interchangeably with the word “gosh”…such as; Gosh, I wish I had more time! Perhaps it would have been a little clearer had I written; God, please grant me more time.
The reality being that God…with a capital “G” is the one who controls time.
I was looking at my calendar the other day, and I noticed that next Tuesday, October 16th, will mark the one year anniversary of Dan Wheldon’s death. To those of you who don’t recognize the name, Dan Wheldon was the Indy car driver killed in a 15 car wreck in Las Vegas, in the last race of the year. Dan was a friend of my oldest son and his wife. I have written several blog postings in the past regarding Dan’s death.
I am sure that Dan Wheldon, when he strapped himself in his race car, had no idea that his life would end after just 11 laps. Dan died at the age of 33, leaving a wife and 2 little boys behind.
During this past year, Dan wasn’t the only young person to die a tragic death. Countless families around the world have suffered the loss of someone they loved…someone taken way too soon. I am sure if you polled their loved ones, they would say they wish God would have given their loved ones more time. More time to fulfill their dreams. More time to love and to laugh. More time to enrich their lives in learning new things. More time to just lay under a tree on a hot summer’s day and simply daydream
Some died on a dusty, dirty floor in a far away land. They died a senseless death due to lack of safe drinking water, or lack of food, or lack of medicine. They died because they were poor. Some died on our own streets. They died from car crashes, while others died from a purposeful act of violence. Some died in a hospital bed from a disease we have not yet conquered. Some died on the battlefield defending our country. However they died, their life was an unfinished work of art.
Those of us remaining, we are left with a choice. We can see those among us who have died way too early, and we can give up…saying what’s the point? Why even try? It all gets taken away at some point anyway. It’s all such a waste!
To do so would bring dishonor to the memory of those who died. They would gladly trade places with us in a minute. To have that one last conversation they didn’t get to have. To hold, or be held by the people they loved. Don’t tell the dead that time doesn’t matter! No, our job is to carry on in their memory.
We can honor the dead by making the most of the time we have been given. We can use the unfairness of untimely death as a teachable moment in our own lives. Knowing not the time, nor the hour should give us the resolve to make the most of our time.
In the end, our vision of time is not God’s vision of time. He knows that our “time” continues on in another dimension of His choosing. We belong to Him, and He belongs to us. Death, in our human view, is the end…but to God it is a beginning.
Every once and a while, God gives us a sign that He is with us, that we are His people, and in Him we can find comfort. At the memorial service for Dan Weldon a year ago, his three closest racing buddies gave his eulogy. They were Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, and Tony Kanaan. The three of them stood together at the podium, tears running down their checks, and told the world what Dan meant to them, and what Dan meant to the racing community.
At this year’s Indianapolis 500, a race Dan Wheldon won twice…yes, you guessed it…Dario Franchitti came in first, Scott Dixon came in second, and Tony Kanann came in third. To those with faith, we didn’t see just a random outcome…no, we saw the comforting hand of God reassuring us that He has prepared a place for us where time is endless!
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