Making the Most of the Dash

Your life is made of two dates and a dash.

Make the most of the dash.

Everybody has an appointment.

Nobody knows the time.

Events and anniversaries these past weeks have been reminders of the dearness of life.  While some deaths were anticipated, others were unexpected.

Last Sunday, on a very foggy morning in California, nine people boarded a helicopter to fly to a basketball tournament.  On-board were retired Los Angeles basketball shooting guard Koby Bryant and his 13 year old daughter Gianna “Gigi;” John Altobelli, a baseball coach who had helped numerous athletes earn scholarships, along with his wife Keri and their daughter Alyssa who played on the team; Christina Mauser, who was the assistant coach; Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton, a teammate of Gigi’s; and the helicopter pilot, Ara Zobavan.  Before the helicopter could safely reach its destination, it crashed into a Southern California hillside leaving no survivors.

January 28, 2020, marked the 34^th anniversary of when the space shuttle Challenger exploded, after liftoff, leaving no survivors.  The Challenger crew was made up of Commander Francis R. “Dick” Scobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith, Mission Specialists Judith A. Resnik, Ellison S. Onizuka, and Ronald E. McNair, Payload Specialist Gregory B. Jarvis, and Teacher-in-Space Payload Specialist Christa McAuliffe.  Their legacy continues to inspire space research, training, and travel.

The Coronavirus is spreading across China with almost 10,000 documented cases.  Other countries are confirming and reporting cases of the virus as well.  Unfortunately, there have been deaths attributed to the flu.

These past weeks, four friends, in their 80s and 90s, have completed their journey on earth.  I am grateful for the legacy they leave behind which challenges and encourages me to be more like Jesus.

“You have one life, don’t waste it.”

~ John Piper

Whereas some of the people that were remembered and honored had already made a huge impact on society, others were just beginning to discover their talents and abilities.  Not being guaranteed a certain number of days, it’s important to make our days count.  We each have a choice of the legacy we leave by the ways we invest in others, the words we speak and write, and our deeds. 

There is a time for everything,

            and a season for every activity under the heavens:

               a time to be born and a time to die,

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2a

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

James 4:14

A person’s days are determined;

you have decreed the number of his months

and have set limits he cannot exceed.

Job 14:5

“Show me, LORD, my life’s end

and the number of my days;

            let me know how fleeting my life is.

Psalm 39:4

Teach us to number our days,

            that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:12