The end

The news of entertainments Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson all succumbing to death this week is a big reminder that time of death has no prejudice, takes no survivors, and is coming for us all...
...doesn't matter who you are...
...doesn't matter how rich you are...
...doesn't matter how successful, average, or high profile you may be as a person...
Time does not stand still and it won't slow down...
Time will not wait for you to get your affairs in order, reconcile with a loved one, make good on a promise, or fulfill a lifelong dream- the end is coming, you can be sure of that, and it's the one thing no one can stop.
We will all pass away, at some time or another, so we had better be ready, because
time.will.not.wait.
Our life's seconds, minutes, and hours, are streaming by whether we're aware of it or not.
It's not just some other day that begins and ends every 24 hours, it's one more day of our life that is over.
Surely, we're all aware of time in some capacity; it beckons us to get up in the morning, dictates when we eat, arrive at work, or go back to bed each night. But in the light of eternity, that is trivial.
Most people go through life completely unaware that the time that is dictating their daily life is simultaneously affecting their forever life. Time plays a much bigger role than people give it credit for. When time beckons us to get up in the morning, that is one last time you have to wake up.
Every day that we live brings us one day closer to our deaths- a hard thought think about, but whether we do or not it doesn't change the fact that it's the truth.
Maybe if we did think on that a little more frequently we would live our lives more intentionally. We would speak softer, love harder, forgive more, hold less grudges, acquire less, and give more generously...

Death isn't going to politely knock on our front door and give us a Twenty year notice, followed by a Ten year warning, and then a final One year countdown. From the person given news of terminal cancer, to a man stricken with cardiac arrest-death comes unexpectedly, unannounced, in the middle of our every day lives. No warning. And it's coming...

This reality is a great reason to live life with an eternal mindset. To invest in eternal rewards.
We can't take our earthly wealth with us. Michael Jackson didn't take his priceless Beatles song copyrights with him, Farrah Fawcett didn't take her famous big hair, and Ed McMahon didn't take with him the success from his years on the Tonight Show.

James 4:14 reminds us..." you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."

What are we investing in?
What legacy are we leaving?
What are we doing with our lives?

I want to live a life full tilt for God. I want to invest my life in eternal rewards, rather than earthly treasures. And I need to remember to think like this more often, because tomorrow is not promised, and I don't want to waste what precious time I have left.