Tomorrow is Promised to No One

Two weeks ago we watched in stunned silence as the St. Louis newscast pre-empted CSI and began telling the sad story of Charles Thornton taking matters into his own hands and gunning down 5 people during a City Council meeting before being shot to death by police officers.

Lightning had struck – again – this time a mile from our house. We live on the very edge of Kirkwood, MO; I could throw the proverbial rock and hit the town line. The City Hall where the shootings took place is on my regular running route, and while I dislike how the media puts their own spin on news events, it seemed we were in our own Twilight Zone as we saw our familiar streets and merchant shops – with crime scene tape -- on national television.

The funerals were last week on consecutive days, Mr. Thornton’s being last, so that families and friends could attend all of them if they chose. A friend told me she was driving through town and was stopped in traffic by one of the funeral processions. She said it took a full 50 minutes before the entire procession of cars had passed by; hundreds of people were taking the time to share in this heartbreaking loss.

Once again we are confronted with the most important issue a human being will ever face – our own mortality. Like taxes, sooner or later death comes to us all and what’s on the other side is determined by how we’ve lived on this side. Among the myriad beliefs of the afterlife that are out there, one of them is that there is absolutely nothing on the other side. What a terrible risk to take. Compare two people’s lives – one lives for God, the other for himself. Both die someday. If there is nothing, neither will know it since, well, both are dead and that’s all there’s to it. However if there is something on the other side, suddenly both will care an awful lot about what happens to them. It’s a road worthy of investigation – how much “longer” is eternity than the maybe 80-something years we spend here?

I can’t help but wonder if the folks in the City Council meeting were at peace with their eternal destinations. It’s reasonable to assume not one of them went to the meeting that night thinking it would be their last few hours. Rather, most of us are inclined to plan out our entire lives – or at least the next few hours. Who wants to think about death?

The truth is not one of us knows when our last hour will be. There is a verse in the Bible that says

“…you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

Hard words. We so want to be in control of everything, but these days we often have trouble reigning in even our time. It’s hard to think of our lives as being so brief, yet in the big picture that includes eternity they are short indeed. To put it into perspective, one day in eternity is probably the equivalent of 10,000 lifetimes.

There are endless and profound reasons why athletes train and race. Likewise I have many, but consider this Reason #1 why I do it: each day I get up at o’dark-thirty even if I don’t feel like it, each minute I spend with someone who’s discouraged and needs an uplifting hand, each time I take on a new challenge despite the fear, each workout/race I press on regardless of the discomfort or pain – all inevitably spill over into everyday living and teach me repeatedly how to persevere no matter what life hands me. Christianity brings with it the unique claim that the deity we worship has “been there” – he’s been glad, sad, betrayed, a social outcast, he forgave his enemies, he was unjustly accused.

Each day I wake up I’m grateful for yet another opportunity to live for a cause that is greater than myself. I look at my race wheels and think that at one time God was just one of the spokes -- next to my marriage, kids, job, hobbies, possessions -- with me at the center. I would call on Him only when I needed something – like salting your meal when it doesn’t taste the way you want.

Today God is at the very center of our lives and everything radiates out from there. Looking at life first through God’s eyes sure puts things into perspective. I’m no hero though; it’s far easier to write these words than it is to live them. I think about the example set for us by Jesus Christ and the life he lived – and that as a professing Christian I’m called to walk in his shoes and be like him.

I pray that each person reading this thinks about every moment of their lives and what they’re living for. Tomorrow is promised to no one.