Sitting here at one of my favorite places pondering life and the lesson I will be teaching this Wednesday over a delicious cup of coffee, I am caught off guard at the illustration before my very eyes. If you share my affection for coffee, certainly you enjoy just holding the cup in two hands, smelling the aroma and seeing the steam rise off the top. The vapor dances off the top of the cup joyfully stretching to the sky. It carries the aroma of potential, energy and tastiness. Yet it dissipates into the air as fast as it has arrived. So yummy, so quick.
The book of James in the New Testament of the Bible, tells us that life is even as a vapor that appears for a short time and vanishes away (James 4:14). Such a true statement, yet one we like to push off as long as we can, ignoring it and denying it as if life is a certainty.
As I get older I begin to recognize how short life really is. I am thankful that as a youth pastor I have not had to encounter or perform a funeral of a teenager from my group. I have only done three funerals and they were all family. In just a few weeks I will be doing a memorial service for my great aunt Helen who has recently past. It is a surreal occasion when you see a lifeless body before it has been prepared by the funeral home. I stopped by to pray with my second cousins after their mom passed, her body was there just as she left it laying on the bed. There laid an empty shell, an abandoned tent that used to be the home of my great aunt. It's eyrie and seemingly unnatural, and yet it is very much natural.
As an adult the brevity of life becomes easier for me, but trying to get teenagers to understand this can be a difficult thing at times. After all, many of them have never dealt with a loss close to them, which is the way we like it and feel it should be, right? For me, I was exposed to death at the age of fourteen. At a small Christian junior high I went to, a very dear friend of mine, Sarah, began having headaches. They were tremendously painful and she would miss days of school because of them. Her parents finally decided to get the doctors involved and they found a tumor was the cause.
The anticipation of the test results was brutal, but when the results came back our worst fears became reality. The tumor was cancerous and it was tucked away in a part of her brain that was inoperable. They tried to treat it aggressively, but her thirteen year old body couldn't take it any longer. Within what seemed like a few days, she was gone.
To walk into school with a class of only 8 students, now 7, and see that empty chair everyday was so difficult. The questions of why, the blaming God, the fears were constantly bombarding my mind. Yet a new perspective of life remained. It is brief. It is fragile. It needs to be cherished while we have it.
Sarah was a beautiful girl who loved Jesus with all her heart. Upon her death, her pastor revealed her tithing records which showed that she had given abundantly to the church. She was said to have slipped into eternity with praises to Jesus flowing from her lips. She, in her young 13 years impacted me so much. Her story actually has a lot to do with why I am here today. In my mind, Sarah was a foundational influence in all of my ministry. Her death brought me a new reality and a new passion for Jesus.
Life is beautiful, full of potential and excitement, but it is brief and fragile. What are you doing with your life? Do you realize how short it really is? As a parent, do you treasure the moments you have with your children? Do you realize that before you know it they will be adults? Prepare them to own their faith, to value life and to love Jesus above all else.
Are you a student? Do you have sense for how fast your life will fly by? Live for Jesus now! There is no better life then surrendering to Jesus. He says to you "I have come to give you the fullest life imaginable, a purpose to get up everyday, meaning in face of trials, hope that is tangible and peace that will carry you through anything." The Bible states that today is the day of salvation because you aren't guaranteed to see tomorrow. Trust Jesus, Follow Jesus, Learn about Jesus, tell others about Jesus. You will never regret it and you will have eternity to celebrate it!
When we follow Jesus, our life, though it may be short, can be a dancing vapor, full of potential and joy that appears for a short time but leaves a tremendous impact.
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