Food for Thought

"Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them."~~Luke 12:35-37

This verse is used often to try and convey us the need to always be ready for the day that the Lord returns. That our lamps need to have oil, we need to be dressed and our home is ready for our Master's return...many people look at this verse and take it quite literally, quite fundamentally. Yet, the forget that Jesus often spoke in parables; taking his words at face value will often leave us more confused than before.

When I see this verse I do not foresee the end of the world, or the Tribulation coming tomorrow, the next day, next week, next month or next year...No...this tells me how I am supposed to live my life until the Lord calls me to my righteous reward in Heaven. This is not a warning of the End Times. This is a lesson in how to live my life, while I am here.

As anyone who knows will know, I am a veteran. I have served my country in a uniformed capacity (active or reserve) for the past eleven since, since I was seventeen years-old. My last deployment was in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM and I served in the Middle East for nearly a year. This was the heaviest fighting that I've ever seen, including my tour in Afghanistan. For nearly forty-five days, we were involved in high-intensity combat operations against uniformed Iraqi Army and Republic Guard forces, irregular Saddam Fedayeen forces, as well as Anti-American insurgent forces.

For forty-five days death was the thin and sharpened edge of a knife. If you moved on inch the wrong way you would fall off. And this is the edge that I lived on from November 2002 until I returned in July of 2003. There is no room for second best. There is zero tolerance for mistakes. To constantly be around death has certainly changed my outlook on life as I know it. This was even more so than my experience other life experiences, including deployments to Afghanistan and other prior deployments.

Now that I'm home...I see things in a different light. Normal everyday stressors no longer worry me. I mean, after hearing the bullets snap past my head and feeling the push of combat with zero sleep in 48 hours, what could possible stress me out, right? I notice the little things more...the sunsets, the sunrises...the flowers in bloom...the sultry breeze on a southern evening...I don't take these things for granted. After being so close to the abyss for so long, how could I not notice these things?

And I also remember one night outside of a city in Iraq named an-Nasiriyah and being in the fight of our lives. Sixteen men were running low on ammunition and separated from a larger force by perhaps Three kilometers (not even two miles). That three kilometers might as well have been a thousand light years in distance. I was wounded (slightly) as was every other man in my unit and we were slugging it out with the bad guys expecting this to be our last stand. I had already decided that I would save a bullet for myself rather than be taken prisoner.

Something hit me at that might right before we were relieved by a company of tanks, light armored vehicles and Hummers. For a single moment, there was clarity. The shooting had stopped. The screaming had stopped. The Navy fighters and Marine Corps helicopters stopped flying. There was silence and peace for one split second.

I remembered...all the things I've never done. I remembered every chance that I never took. Every girl that I never kissed. Every hand that I never held. Every field of cotton that I never noticed. Every sunset that was just part of the scenery. I remembered, every person I loved and never had the guts to say "I love you" to. In essence, I replayed a tape of failures...

And from thoughts of death came thoughts, a strict determination, of life. I no longer prayed for God to make my death quick and painless. No, I prayed for God to give me one more day to live. So I could kiss the girl. So I could hold her hand. So I could walk in the fields of green and smell the fresh air. So I could watch the sun setting in the distance and remark about the majesty and beauty that He created. I would be "ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him". In essence I would live as if it was my last day to live...

God doesn't want us to be unhappy. God doesn't want us to be lonely. He wants us fulfilled, He wants us happy, He wants us content...He wants us to live full lives, not just survive. In order for me to do this, I must live as if it's my last day to live. I must take every chance that the Lord puts before me. I must fulfill His will for me. That is what we all must do.

This verse does not just speak of our service to the Lord. It speaks of our lives. How He wishes us to live. How He wishes us to love...

Love was not meant to be kept locked inside a heart. There are no guarantees in life.

What is the one thing you don't want another day to go by without doing? What is the one thing today that you wish to say without another day going by?

Say it.

Do it.

You never know when your time will run out...

It is only through taking the chances that God has set for us, through serving Him, that we can truly say that our cup overfloweth. Everything we have, is through Him...and what if we did not take that chance to trust in Him?