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Listen while you read: "Be Thou My Vision"1 (Lyrics) |
Romans 8:38-39 – For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)
As I write these thoughts, I'm in a plane at 31,000 feet en route to a business meeting. This flight especially has given me time for serious reflection. As the pilot attempted to land our plane earlier for this connecting flight, we almost landed on another plane already on the runway. A torrent of emotions rushed over me as our plane climbed steeply out of harm's way. My first thought was that such a moment of peril could not separate me from the love of God. I trusted God's sovereign care in our perilous circumstances.
For the remainder of the flight, I've thought of things that I've planned to do and somehow never found the time to do them. I've remembered invitations from lifelong friends and thought about how nice it would be finally to accept their invitations for visits. I've considered mission projects at church, but decided that others had more time to do them than I did. I've even postponed retirement when I could write full-time because I assumed that there would always be time to do that later.
Ephesians 5:16 – Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. (NLT)
Our aborted landing made me realize that we cannot always count on there being time tomorrow. No, the peril that I encountered did not separate me from the love of God. Instead, it heightened my awareness of the opportunities that God has given me, and the time for me to do them is now.
Prayer: God, please help us to focus our attention on the urgency of our opportunities each day. Amen.
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Well done, Annie. Please write again.
Thanks. I needed this reminder today.
Thanks for the challenging reminder, Annie.
Thanks for sharing your motivation to serve the King of Kings.
Oh wow, Anne, God surely takes care of us until he’s got something else for us to do in heaven. Thanks for sharing this devotional with us. Blessings.
Amen Annie.
So glad you were spared to tell the tale and encourage us all to make the most of our days.
Blessings.
Such good thoughts, Annie. I have been considering returning to the Session of our small church. You have provided some additional direction.
(Texas)
Annie this devotional was wonderful. I read it before I went to bed last night and when I awoke the very first word that came to mind was …. Today!
Yes, we must indeed seize the day, for there just might not be a tomorrow!
Thanks, good one!
Dear Annielaura,
Thank you for your devotional of today.
How glad I am that I did teaching of upgrading in an inner-city mission to adults who had not gone far in high school, and also did two very different years of teaching missionary children in Peru.
Pray for God’s guidance. I pray with you.
Keep writing.
Dear Annie – I have not noticed devotionals written by you before. This one certainly caught my attention. My experience is that we all (including Christians) through life believing that tomorrow will be pretty much the same as today… and it is… until it is not. A life-threatening illness occurs to a loved one or oneself, a dear family member passes away suddenly, a secure job is eliminated… I don’t know why it takes this kind of wake up call for us to realize this, but you are not unique in your experience. Thankfully, God kept you safe through this incident. Listen now for what he is asking you to do TODAY! God Bless you for writing this devotional.
Dear Annie,
It is not just ourselves who may not be around to take advantage of opportunities. The opportunities themselves can be fleeting. Things and people, especially people, that we take for granted all too often disappear in the blink of an eye, as has been the case with my wife’s family. They can be the picture of good health one day and gone the next. As a result, we have both learned that we should take advantage of any opportunity to visit family and friends and to always tell them that we love them, even if we do not feel like doing so at that moment, since it may be the last chance we have.
Grace and peace be with you.
Hi Annie,
I read your Devotional with considerable interest this morning.
It reminded me of a time when I had similar experiences, not a near crash mind you, but one time I was on small plane (16 passengers) which had a fire somewhere. We were able to land in Doha, Qatar in time for all of us to get off and for the fire to be extinguished.
Another time I was on a flight from Frankfurt to Amsterdam and the wheels would not come down when they were supposed to, but eventually they rectified the problem and we were able to land.
Like you wrote, it sure makes you think.
Thank you so much for your good words.