Dear West Family

I still occasionally log into Facebook, although only really when I want to be reminded of how utterly terrible the world is. You know those days when you are just feeling hopeful and optimistic and need a dose of depraved reality to remind you of our mutually assured destruction? Yeah, on those days. 

Jokes aside, there is one feature of Facebook that I really like and that is the “memories” feature. I joined Facebook as an early (ish) adopter in 2007 and it seems like I posted quite a lot for 10 years or so. That means that there is a treasure trove of utterly stupid things that I have shared that now help me in my ongoing quest for humility, as reminders that some things aren’t as smart, or as funny, or helpful, or even necessary as one might have thought at the time. But, there are also reminders of important events that took place in my life that are attached to actual dates in history that may otherwise have been filed away in a general memory category in the deep recesses of my fluffy hippocampus. 

One of these memories popped up when I looked at Facebook just the other day. (Honest confession, I launched Facebook to look someone up so that I could attach a name to a face, and this is something I do quite often.) The memory was from when I was just starting out as a pastor, and an 18 year old boy in our congregation died suddenly from a complication which occurred in what should have been a routine surgery. He was such a wonderful kid, so full of life and potential and iad experienced the immense privilege of baptizing him just a few months before that fateful day. The picture of him stopped me in my tracks, and made me think about Psalm 144 and the brevity of all of our lives on earth. 

In Psalm 144 David says that our lives are like the vapors of a breath breathed on a cold morning. This is quite hard to identify with because it is currently 239481293847123987 degrees outside (this is an approximate number as I am still not that good at Fahrenheit conversions), but I remember clearly walking out of the hospital in Johannesburg on a June morning after my young friend had died. It was freezing cold (June is winter in South Africa) and as I tried to collect my emotion in the parking lot my heavy breaths made little clouds of steam, which disappeared almost as quickly as they were formed. This is the image that David has in mind. On an eternal timeline, our lives are like that. They are little clouds of vapor that take on Divine shape and then disappear. All too soon.The question that the realization drives David towards is a profound one, and one that I am reflecting upon today (and hopefully every other day.)

“O LORD, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him?” - Ps 144:3 (ESV)

You see, in heaven’s economy, the brevity of our lives isn’t an indicator of the precious value of our lives. The length of our days doesn’t diminish the love that God has for us! When we think of our own fragility, it shouldn’t make us feel less than, or unloved in any way. It should cause us deep wonder to consider that God thinks of us, and loves us, and has plans for us, even though we may only be here for a minute. 

Oh what a beautiful thing it is to be a human being who is loved by God! As I looked at the picture of my young friend, who still looked like he had so much living to do when he died, I was reminded of a few  things.

First, life is short,  like a breath on a crisp winter morning. None of us escape that reality, even those who might live for a relatively long time.

Second, life is precious, because we are loved and thought of by the maker of all of our lives. I can barely type this without getting choked up by the thought that God knows me, and thinks of me, and loves me.

Third, life is not to be wasted, either through the wasteful presumption of more time, or the foolish furious pursuit of things that will not matter when this is all over. Knowing that our life is short but sacred brings about both an urgency to live it well and a patience to wait for what God has for us. 

And so friends, enjoy your short but beloved lives. God thinks about you, and He really, really (like for realsy) loves you, so go out and be who he called you to be. Don’t waste your life.

The song this week is from the one and only Sandra McCracken. She really is a gift to the church.

Sweet Comfort

Press on.
Ross