This is the second in a series of messages we are calling “A Contrarian’s Guide to finding the New You.” Each week we’re looking at issues that are a bit different that your typical resolution list. In fact, this week, we are going to contrary to what you are probably doing in a lot of areas of your life...
Today we are talking about time and time management. ...and let me begin at one of my favorite places. Six Flags over Texas! This Christmas our family went to holiday in the park at Six Flags in Dallas. We get season passes given to us every year, and it’s so fun to watch the kids get to add rides as they grow. Ashley got to ride the Titan for the first time - which is a very large Roller Coaster... She rode it 4 times!
The boys got to ride one of my favorite rides the Superman (at Fiesta Texas the name is better - it’s called the scream...) Listen to the description from the website “The Superman: Tower of Power is an extreme free-fall ride that carries you to the top of the 230-foot tower, giving you a bird’s-eye view of the park. Then, after a few seconds of gut-wrenching anticipation, you plunge down at over 60 mph”
I love this ride, and they had a blast... I remember the first time I waited for in line with Dana. My heart was pounding. I felt like I would vomit. My hands were sweaty. I kept seeing people get all the way to the seats, all the way strapped in, and then they would back out... As we were getting in the seats, Dana looked over at me and said, “You are not getting off. I won’t let you.” At Fiesta Texas this thing takes you high, and then drops you... It was the best ride I have ever been on - it’s an amazing feeling.
But in an instant it was over. We waited 30 minutes, and in 45 seconds, it was over... You know, if you are not careful, you will spend most of your life waiting for the good moments, only to find that they don’t last very long... They are over like that.
I’ve had some pretty big moments in my life. When I got married. When my kids were born. When I graduated with my doctorate. ...but you know those moments are just memories now. They are very fleeting. In fact, scripture tells us that “Your life is like the morning Fog - It’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” (James 4:14)
I echo the sentiments of the Psalmist in Psalm 90:10,12
“Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away. Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.”
If you are not careful you become a slave to time. In fact, some people tell us to hurry up. (Dana and I were laughing that we should have named one of our kids, “Hurry Up” another one “Stop” and another one “Because” - Have you ever thought about how much you hurry? I hurry in the mornings to the office. I hurry eating lunch. I hurry driving - everywhere. I hurry home. I even hurry at the gym, and this last week, I hurried on a bike ride. Why?
In the greek there are two concepts for time. Chronos and Kairos. Chronos (from which we get words like “Chronology” and “Chronometer”) is clock time: minutes, decades, centuries - past, present, and future or is-ness, was-ness, and will be. Kairos, on the other hand, is time as substance. It is non-sequential and indivisable. Such time is merely is-ness. It is God’s category of time just as chronos is the human category. (Calvin Miller, Into the Depths of God, pg. 49-50.)
Most of us live at the beck and call of Chronos. We live from this moment to that moment and we are always waiting for what comes next... Have you ever been in a meeting or at lunch and you are sitting across from a fast talker. You find yourself watching how quickly their mouth is moving...not paying any attention to what they are really saying? Hurry is the salve of Chronos.
But what if we went counter to the idea of hurry... What if we changed time zones? What if we began to try to live at God’s pace? Is that even possible?
Paul says it this way... “So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.” Ephesians 5:15-16
‘Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil.’ James 4:13-16
So how do we do that? William R. White has this great little story... READ Story (Miller, Into the Depths of God, 51-53)
For me personally, it all comes down to a decision. Will I try to live in the moment, and give God those moments, or will I just be a slave to time...and next. This year, I’ve been trying to give every day to God. I heard about this from Bill Bright the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. Every morning he would get out of bed and kneel, and tell God “I am yours. I am your slave, you are my master...” For me, I’ve been trying to do that same kind of thing...
