Don't Be Frittern, The Clock Is Running

   Our pastor stood on the stage yesterday morning and spoke these words:

   "The average lifespan of an American today in 2015 has been determined as 77.5 years". Then he asked all in that early service to stand whose age was over that figure, and a few of us stood. Then his words:

   "Congratulations, you are above the average, and that is a good thing, but the other side of that is the fact that you are living on borrowed time."

   I'm not sure of the exact figure for this average. I looked it up on Google and found a whole range of figures for the average life expectancy, but it does make a valid point the way he used it.

   Is it something to be proud of, that you have lived above the average time of life? Is it not the kind of life you have lived, and not its length? At this point in the life cycle is it not more important what I do with the rest of my allotted time that matters? Is that not true for all of us?

   In the Book of Esther, Esther is told by her uncle, in Chapter 4:

"If you keep quiet at this time, liberation and protection for the Jews will appear from another source, while you and your father’s household perish. It may very well be that you have achieved royal status for such a time as this!”

   It is no accident that I am living today. It is not just the luck of the draw. There is a reason.

   Right after our pastor made these opening remarks, he asked the 30 minute clock to be put on the screen and it began counting down from that point, so that all in the congregation could see the passage of time as he spoke.

   If you want to see the whole thing go to: http://sscclive.com and click on the archive.

   It was a visual reminder of the continual, everlasting, momentum of time, the time that each of us have, but we do not have the knowledge of when that clock will stop for each individual. As he finished his message, and we watched the clock move down to :00, he stated that he was through, his time was up, and he walked back to his seat.

   All of us, young and old, have an allotted time, and we know not when it is set to expire. We are called to use it for God and not waste it. We all have clocks that tell us the time, but only God knows when the battery will give out.

   Wherever we are and whatever situations we are placed into, the times are in His hands.

   I think of the folks in River City, Iowa, as the Music Man, Prof. Harold Hill, tells them about the time their kids will be wasting because of the pool table in their community:

"And all week long your River City
Youth'll be frittern away, 
I say your young men'll be frittern!
Frittern away their noontime, suppertime, choretime too!

   None of us need to be "frittern".

   We are on the clock.