HOW DID IT GET SO LATE SO SOON?

“How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is here before it's June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” 
― Dr. Seuss

      Life is short and it gets shorter every day. I was born- it seems like yesterday, in Iowa, back in 1946, but my life as a farm boy was short-lived because we were in Des Moines by 1950. The fifties were great for me. I was a kid, and my cousins and I played sandlot ball and listened to rock n’ roll music. But my uncles moved away, except for Uncle Bill (who fell in love with Aunt Sandy), and my childhood days were over.

      In the sixties, I met Sherry and the time we spent listening to Rod McKuen in her one-room apartment… was paradise. Two of the things that I needed most were peace and acceptance and we found both of them together … until my drinking drove me to the brink of insanity. I hit bottom in ‘76 and entered seminary (as a born-again, second-career student in ‘89). It’s been quite a journey. It’s been mostly filled with ordinary days (kronos time), but it’s also been dotted with moments of deep pain and great joy- with kairos moments that endure forever. There have been times when I’ve let myself down and there have been times when I’ve surprised myself in a good way. But the past is gone. It can’t be relived, and I need to let it go, especially the bad. When I became a Christian I was told that, through Christ, God had forgiven all of my sins and loved me unconditionally … and I’ve embraced this as a wonderful and liberating truth!

      Some people have noted that it was convenient for me to forgive myself so easily and maybe it was- but in Christ, I am free from what was! Praise God. I am also free from what will be… because the future is God’s time. There is nothing I will ever do in the future because the present is all the time there is. The present is our life. It is the stage on which we can love God and others in God’s name. It is the time in which we can love others, forgive others, laugh and cry with others, pray with and for others, and minister to Christ when we see him hungry, thirsty, lonely, naked, imprisoned, and/or wounded. In the ordinariness of each day, we can serve God and rebuild lives if we’re not entangled in our own agenda.

      Advent calls us to be prepared for our Lord’s coming because for everyone, there must be a last day. For everyone, the day will come when tomorrow’s calendar will be unfulfilled. Any day now, Christ will appear. I don’t know when- Scripture notes that even Christ doesn’t know when- and I won’t be able to stop it, hurry it up, or manipulate it. All I can do is be prepared for God’s coming, which is the first order of business for Advent. I’m sure there are many ways of getting prepared for Christ’s coming, but I will mention the ways that I know:

1) Do business with the living God. If you haven’t accepted Christ’s offer to surrender and yoke yourself to him, do it today. Remember the thief on the cross to whom Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Trust in God’s grace, you will be prepared for his coming;

2) Secondly, be a person of love. Be a person who loves those who are close to you, those with whom you work or play, the people whom you see occasionally, strangers, and those in need. Love God with all you have, love your neighbors as yourself, even your enemies, and you will be prepared for God’s coming;

3) Thirdly, we will be ready if we do what Jesus did. If we forgive those who crucify us, preach good news to the poor, feed the hungry and heal the sick, listen to people who have a story to tell, treat every person as a child of God, mourn for a broken world, and pray as if there is no tomorrow, we will be prepared for God’s coming:

4) Fourthly, we will be prepared if we see and respond to Christ as he appears to us each day. We don’t want to be in that crowd (Matt. 25) who said they never saw Jesus hungry, imprisoned, naked, sick, or lonely. Jesus said something like “of course you did,” and you are not prepared to enter the kingdom of heaven. 

       Blink and your child is one.  You blink again and he or she is in college. Then they’re married and you’re a grandparent. Then you’re retired… and if you blink again, you are a widow or widower. One more blink and someone is giving your eulogy. Life is short and it gets shorter every day. How did it get so late so soon? God is coming. The end is near. Be prepared! Amen!