SCRIPTURE: John 10:10
(TM)
A thief is only
there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal
life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.
STORY - a lifespan list compiled by Frank Kendrig and
Richard Hutton:
Experts estimate that if a normal cassette tape is played
about 100 times a year, sound quality will deteriorate somewhat after about 10
years. But the tape itself will play on.
A lightening bolt lasts 45 to 55
microseconds.
The average running shoe worn by the average runner on an
average surface will last 350 to 500 miles.
A hard pencil can write up to 30,000 words or draw a line more than 30
miles long.
Most ballpoint pens will draw a line 4,000 to 7,500 feet long.
Leather combat boots have a wartime life span of six months, a peacetime life
span of eight months (The army walks during war and peace.)
The projected
life-span of a baby born in the U.S. today is about 71 years, nearly double
what it was at the end of the 18th century.
The longest authenticated lifespan
of a human being is 113 years, 214 days.
Studies show married people live
longer than those who remain single.
A group of subatomic particles known as
unstable hadrons exists for only one one-hundred-sextillionth of a second (10
to the negative 23 second)--less time than it takes light to travel a single
inch.
A 100-watt incandescent bulb will last about 750 hours; a 25-watt bulb,
2,500 hours.
The number of times a light bulb is turned on and off has little
to do with its life-span.
A one-dollar bill lasts approximately 18 months in
circulation.
Practice footballs used by professionals last two to three
days--a playing life of perhaps five hours.
Home teams are required to provide
24 new balls each game and these last only about six minutes of playing time.
OBSERVATION:
Everything has a lifespan, but the more important lifespan is that of us
humans. The Bible speaks of the human lifespan as three-score and ten … Psalm
90:10 (TM) “We live for seventy years or
so (with luck we might make it to eighty), and what do we have to show for it?
Trouble. Toil and trouble and a marker in the graveyard.” What a “pleasant”
thought to have our lifespan reduced to a number, to a list of difficulties and
a gravestone… nothing more… nothing less. Even if we live to be 100, which more
and more people are doing these days, still … a lifespan marked by what? A
number? Trouble? Heartache? Grave marker? Whoopi!!!
Richard Evans hits the mark as he states: “The
tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin
it.” The other quote that I like to refer to often … and I can
never remember who said it … but it goes something like this: “Many die when they are in their forties,
they just hang around until they are 80 to exit this life.” In either case,
it is tragic to be so close to living and miss out – to either just hang on
until ones body gives out or make the discovery about the joy of living so late
in life.
Could it be the half-empty/half-full syndrome? We can
concentrate on what is wrong with our life, how tragic it has been, how we have
been misunderstood, what has been taken away from us (our joy, hobbies, etc.) –
the half-empty portion of the syndrome – that we become miserable, angry all
the time. It is the old blame-game that we play and boy, do we play that game
well. We know all the rules and we stay angry at those around us and at life
itself. In reality we push away the very people that love us. Yes, maybe these
individuals don’t give the kind of love and support that we desire, need, or
want, and moving beyond the hurt can be difficult, but the half-full portion of
the syndrome is a lot better.
The half-full part is celebrating what we do have, the love
that is shown, the support that is given, the life that we do have, the joy
that is in our life. By concentrating on the life that we are living we make
the discovery of joy – God’s joy – that is there all along. The side effect is
that more we celebrate what we do have the more is grows. It is like watering a
plant – don’t water it and it will die, water it a little and it stays alive,
but doesn’t grow … water it and fertilize it and it will grow and flower beyond
our imagination. Allowing God’s love (the Miracle Grow fertilizer of life and
joy) to work in us brings about abundant life well beyond our imagination.
PRAYER:
We don’t want to miss out on life while we exist, Lord. Help us come
alive as long as we are still kicking. Move us beyond seeing what we’ve missed
to embracing what we already have … and, by the way, Lord, thank you for
putting those people in our life and the love that they do show to us.
QUOTE from Max Lucado, God Came Near, page 27:
To limit God’s
revelation to a cold list of do’s and don’ts is as tragic as looking at a
Colorado road map and saying that you’d see the Rockies.
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