funny how time slips away

The older I get the heavier my watch seems on my wrist. When you’re young, time is your friend. “Oh, Mom, I’ll do it later. I have plenty of time.” Time, for a while, seems to be almost standing still. You’re always looking ahead and tomorrow never comes. But when you get older, time starts to become your enemy. “There is just not enough hours in the day” is a popular expression. We can never find the time to do so many things we intend to do.
A recent conversation between a few of us older surfers the other day reminded me of how time is slipping away and how as we get older we try desperately to hold on to the illusion that there will always be more time. All of us had crossed that dreaded half century threshold and we were debating how many more years we might have left that we might be able to surf and still be relatively decent at it. Knowing how bad I am already, I was probably the least optimistic of the bunch. Whether I want to admit it or not, there will come a time, sooner than I would like, when I will find that though “the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak”.
All around us, signposts show how fleeting time is. Babies are born, children grow up and marry, friends and relatives pass away. Still, we think we have got plenty of time left. Plenty of time to get serious about our faith. Plenty of time to speak to that person about the Lord. Plenty of time to get to work for the Kingdom of Heaven. The devil only has to whisper in our ear to put it off for just a little while longer, and before we know it, it’s too late. Our opportunity is gone. Maybe that person that you meant to speak to has moved away to college. Maybe that opportunity you had to share your faith at work disappeared when you procrastinated. One of the saddest lines in the Bible is found in Jeremiah 8:20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”
We need to make the most of our time. We don’t know what tomorrow holds. But we have been given today. Let’s not waste it. James said, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” James 4:13,14
Speaking of the summer passing, we have moved our Sunday services indoors here at Surfers Fellowship for the winter months. We will continue meeting at 8am in Bethany Beach, at the Christian Conference Center behind the playground in the center of town. We rent the octagonal building. Hope you will plan on joining us this week.