richard.wollard

So it was my birthday last week, and I am still in my 40’s! I will cling to that until the day after the last day, but I am also a realist and am comfortable with aging. In Psalm 90:12, Moses prays that the Lord would teach us to number our days, a discipline I picked up the first time I read that passage 15 years ago. Psalm 90:10 says we get 70 or 80 years, so I chose 80, Lord willing.

I actually number my days. I have a little program that runs every day, and calculates all the numbers for me. I don’t look at it all the time, but I did update it after my birthday. It catches my attention every time I get to an even hundred number, because I will only get to see that happen maybe 100 more times in my lifetime. Yesterday, I hit 11,300 days left to live if I live to be 80. Not that big of a deal because something could happen today, but this is not the point. So what is the point? Here are a few I came up with:

• I am to live each day in light of who I am in Christ.
• This life is temporary, and I am to live each day in light of eternity.
• I have a fixed number of days to live, and I need to use them wisely.
• My days are not my own, I am only a steward of what God gives me.

The list could go on and on, but those are my big four. Each one of those could be broken down further, but I will save those for a future sermon series!

I found a note I had made earlier, when I had first started this little practice, and at the time, only 46% of my life had passed and I had 15,678 days to live.  Today, 61% of my life has passed and I only have 11,300 days left to live. Wow, where has the time gone!!

I don’t know exactly how much time I have left, only God does. I cannot do anything to affect the length of my life, but I can affect the quality and impact my life will have, and so can you!

Lord, like Moses, I pray that you will teach us to number our days, so that we can present to you a heart of wisdom!

So, I got up early this morning, as is my routine, watching the sun break into the day and admiring my freshly cut, nicely manicured backyard. We have this big, fat robin that sits on the fence and oversees the yard every morning. Actually, he is a pig and just wants all the worms for himself. I’m not kidding, I watch that thing drive off other birds and eat like 10 worms a minute!

As I’m pondering the scene (I’m feeling particularly reflective and creative this week for some reason), I am reminded, of all things, about Matthew 6:26 and how valuable I am to God. I was remind of how my heavenly Father cares for and feeds the birds, and as I watch this little guy scarfing down worms, I realize, I am much more important than the birds!

So I get in my truck after the kids get off to school and I’m headed in to work on my sermon this weekend. I’m feeling pretty good after my reflection on Matthew 6:26, when all of a sudden, I see a robin cross the road in front of me. Now, there are birds all over the place, and many times, simply crossing the road. Nothing out of the ordinary, they usually just fly off as a car approaches. But this guy is waiting until the last minute.

As my brain starts processing this, I realize he is not flying away! There is a curb to my left… I’m trying to check the right lane… is there a car in my blind spot? Decide what to do, NOW! So I  move toward the curb so that the bird goes under the middle of my car, and at least has a chance! As I look in the rear view mirror, what do I see? Feathers. They are floating all in the air, and I see this little bird-body laying in the middle of my lane.

I don’t know… I’m probably over thinking this. I’m for sure writing about it to soon. It just happened and I haven’t really processed through it. Or should I process through it at all? It’s a goofy bird. It’s like a flying rodent that eats insects!

What does the Bible say: 48 times the phrase “birds of the air” appears, I know that God cares for them, and I had just experienced a devotional thought at the crack of dawn with one. Okay, I can’t ignore it, so this is what I came up with:

Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death. Here is the bad news – the bird died, and oh yea, you and I are going to die too. But death is only temporary, and here is the good news – we have the assurance of heaven and eternal life through faith in Christ!

The bird was cared for, until his life ended. How much more will God care for me until my life ends! We might not always feel good about the timing and method of death, and I think that is okay. But this we know: death is certain, but while we are alive, God loves us, cares for us, and provides for all of our needs in Christ Jesus – thanks be to God (and for the birds of the air)!

Hey, you know what… I never thought about the worm that died when it got eaten by the bird. Hummm…

So I was headed down the stairs this morning at 5am, and just as my foot hit that first step, I saw Catie’s crunches laying on the ground and the front door wide-open and flapping in the wind.  Stop, drop and roll comes to mind, but there was no fire.  It was a little early, so I stop, as my brain tries to process through what I’m seeing.

Now, I know none of the girls got up that early to check the mail.  The door was closed when I went to bed, so I’m thinking, who came in and left the door open?  It wasn’t me.  Was there some unwelcome visitor in the house – I don’t know.  I go back and tell Carolyn the front door is open, and she says, “Well, go down and check it out!”  Okay, just letting you know in case you hear me scream or hear a gunshot or something.

I let the dogs out, not they are good defenders or anything, but I figured maybe they would bark if they ran into an intruder or something.  The good news was that everything was quite, and the house all checked out. Whew, no one was in the house so I was feeling better… temporarily.

As I processed through the events of the morning, it occurred to me, that we have nothing to fear from anyone in this world.  Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but rather against the rulers, authorities and powers of this dark world (Ephesians 6:12).  Even though no one had broken into my house physically, the real threat we face is the evil one who roams around looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8), who comes only to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).

In the end, I really didn’t care if anyone had taken my stuff; it’s not mine and is temporary anyway.  And I’m glad I did not have any “altercations” with unwanted visitors!  But I can’t help but wonder how many homes are broken into unknowingly every minute of every day, where people are robbed of full life, the eternal life, that only comes through a life transforming relationship with Jesus Christ.

Romans 10:9  says that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  Are you saved?  Is everyone in your house saved or are you being robbed?  What about your neighbor, your friends, or your co-workers? The thought being robbed, or knowing someone that is being robbed is troublesome, and should be a motivation to make the homes around us a safer place.

Have questions about have a relationship with Jesus Christ and how to be saved? Let me know. If you are saved, do you have your neighbors back?