-Way back-

Remember ‘way back’ when you were a kid? For some it’s WAY farther than others. Who was your third grade teacher(s)? My home room & math teacher was Mrs. Clark. She was 112 back then. That was before ‘mandatory retirement’ or ‘T-drop’ or anything. Of course when you’re a kid EVERYONE seems 112! She was a great African-America lady who made learning fun, & invested my early life & education.

Think back. Who was your best friend in first grade? Did you get into any trouble together? How about Jr. High? Who did you hang around with & what did you do for fun? At lunch today, our staff was sitting around laughing at our fads & ‘fashion sense.’ If you’re honest you probably wore some really stupid clothes just to fit in & be cool. But didn’t we think we were stylin’ & profilin’ back in da day?!

Our lives are filled with moments, opportunities and memories. The good memories are often results of positive choices we made. I’m not sure if your life is turning out quite like you thought it would. Does your future seem bright & hopeful, or is it a gnarled mass of questions? God does have a plan.

We often try to maximize our lives & days by ‘to-do’ lists. Gotta be honest, I have to have the list to keep my ADHD mind from ricocheting off on tangents. I have learned this, though: if I’m simply locked in a regimented list of priorities & responsibilities, I might miss the ‘divine encounters’ that God has in store for me.

A few years back, I was moving from one ministry to another. I looked over years of pictures & memorabilia with bitter sweet thoughts. As I was doing this, we were also preparing a special anniversary for my parents. I wrote a song entitled, “Between the Pictures.” One line speaks to that: “I’m reminded that life takes place between the pictures & the photographs we take.”

Are you allowing God to maximize your life to its fullest? How about those childhood friends, teachers, & acquaintances? Do you think, pray & encourage them as they did for you?

“Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered—how fleeting my life is." Psalm 39:4 NLT

You might have heard the poem, “The Dash Between the Years.” It deals with the line between the birth date & death date on a tombstone. I realize most of you are far too young to obsess over misspent years or regret years lost, but this is just a gentle nudge to remember how short life is & to make the most of the time you have here. Christian songwriter Mark Harris has written a song that encourages this way:

“A beginning and an ending, dates upon a stone,
but the moment in the middle is how we will be known;
Cause what defines us can be found within a line
Finding reason for our time, And the years go by,
how they seem to fly They'll all be over soon,
When our life is done, did we live and love
The way we wanted to,Cause everyday that we leave behind
Goes on to tell the truth
Of how we lived in the line between the two.”

I’d love to hear the stories about the life you’re living ‘between the two.’ Tell me about your best buddy, favorite teacher, or neighbor down the street. Remember them & share. More importantly, tell that person how much they meant to you!

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Dave Jackson-Campus Minister djackson@absc.org
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