LICENSE TO REPRINT – The Journey without Regrets

Maria Sue Chapman, the youngest daughter of Stephen Curtis & Mary Beth Chapman was killed in a tragic car accident recently. It was a week of family celebrations. Maria’s 5^th birthday was 10 days earlier, her oldest sister Emily announced her marriage engagement the night before, and one of her brothers was graduating from high school on the evening of her death. Stephen Curtis Chapman is an accomplished contemporary Christian music artist. He and his wife are models of giving, citizenship, love, humility, honor. They have raised their children to walk purely in those values. Though they had biological children, they chose to adopt a child from China several years ago, then two others. Maria Sue was the third child adopted from China. These adoptions inspired the Chapmans to establish a foundation whose main purpose is to financially assist couples in adoption. The hearts of this family are broken beyond recognition. There is much healing needed that only God can work in their lives.

This recent tragedy, which speaks to me personally for several reasons, prompted me to take license to reprint my post entitled The Journey, as well as some comments. It discusses the eternal perspective that I believe is essential to keep as we walk this earth. I am reprinting because I am not sure many read my final reply to the comment; and, being me, I have added more today.

The original post is below. After it, please read the conversations that follow for a fuller understanding of my intent.

This journey we call life is merely a parenthesis of time in eternity. It is a nano moment in the great picture that God has drawn for each of us within His mural of Creation. The journey began with Him before time, and it will continue with Him after time.

We grow and change. We pray. We learn. We sing. We take and we give. We know joy. We know pain. We laugh. We cry. We praise. And if we keep our perspective in the eternal, we will be the victors through the good times and the bad, the rain that falls and the sun that shines on the just and the unjust, the righteous and the unrighteous alike. Because this portion of the journey prepares us to meet Him face to face where we will spend all eternity – the rest of the journey.

To Comment #1: I am happy with your perspective if I avoid being too fatalistic and waiting for the pie in the sky--or worse, the "rapture" while just biding time here.

And to Comment #2: My point is that though in "relative" terms, our "time" on this planet is minuscule within the concept of "eternity", I do not want to think it is therefore of little importance as to what I do with my "time" here. Saying my "mortal existence" is parenthetical--like some waiting room experience, I think, can demean the value God gave/gives to it.

I replied:

Children left fatherless in accidents caused by drunken drivers.
Sugar plant explosions leaving dozens of families to deal with sudden, untimely deaths of loved ones of all ages.
City council members in a small Midwest town gunned down by someone tired of being told he’s breaking the law.
Tornadoes ripping through regions, wreaking havoc and mass destruction, killing dozens and sometimes hundreds along their paths.
Four year olds suffering with leukemia.
Mentally disabled persons in a crowded marketplace who are wired with explosives detonated by Godless people a half mile off, killing tens of people and maiming countless others.
A young mother struck down with cancer, leaving her husband alone to parent their six children under the age of 15.
Drive-by shootings that leave children harmed, frightened, or dead.

When I said this time on earth is as a parenthesis of time in eternity, it was meant to draw a picture. A picture that might help many of us make our way through times like these, even if our only connection to them is as a member of the same race of humankind. It was not meant as an excuse to waste the time we’ve been given on earth. Those thoughts were one of my “notes in the night’ and only intended to comfort, not theologize. If I had wanted to theologize, I would surely at least have balanced the piece with the admonishment to feed the hungry, clothe the poor, care for the widow and the orphan, visit the prisoner. We are never meant to waste, languish or bide our time, regardless of the picture we want to paint of our walk on earth, and regardless of what we believe comes after this walk. I would have made comment about every moment of life from God being of great value, because He can give no less.
I intentionally do not want my blog to be a theology corner. It is merely a reflection of my thoughts on life as I encounter it, which will likely not be complete on any one topic. Readers’ comments are good, though, because they will enable me to clear any misconceptions that may arise because of this reflective value. And, they make for great dialogue around the dining table. I hope this clarifies where I was coming from.

And today I add:

I believe that life is a gift. And like all gifts from God, it is meant to be nurtured to its fullest capacity, used for the greater good and shared with His Creation. Some may say that sounds trite. Because when death is so untimely, as in the case of a young life cut short, it is a useless thought.

Yet who defines the timeliness of life and death? The created or the Creator? If this walk on earth were all we had to bargain for, we would, and even should, feel that someone was cheated by an early death. Rather than allow ourselves to feel someone has been cheated, and since we do not know the hour or the day when we will be called Home, let us focus on the good brought into the world by the one who was taken Home and be thankful for that. For ourselves, let us live a life with no regrets. How? By loving like there’s no tomorrow, nurturing our gifts for the greater good, giving of ourselves wholly to those around us, letting those we love know that we love them, savoring each moment as though it is truly our last, burning no bridges, and forgiving as we wish to be forgiven. What a full parenthesis will be our time in eternity.