One Month to Live

I digress from politics for a day to discuss something truly substantive and life changing. I picked up a book the other day called One Month to Live by Kerry and Chris Shook. What a scary notion...one month to live. So scary. So morbid, that I wanted to actually page through the contents to see what they could possibly have to write on the subject and yet I wanted to run from the book at the same time. What if I only had 30 days left on Earth? You mean someday I'm going to die? Well, I guess I always knew this, but somehow it just didn't seem possible for me. It is so distant. God wouldn't let me go until I was at least 80 or 90. Of course, I began thinking about what things would really matter to me. A month is 720 hours. Would I spend three of these on a Sunday watching the Pittsburgh Steelers? Would I yell at the referee for the lousy call? Would I spend more time watching the game than talking with my wife?



I find this to be a sobering question. A question everyone should be asking. A question usually ignored because we all think that death escapes us. Or it at least escapes us after all the 'real living' is done. Have you stopped to consider what your final thirty days on Earth would be like? What is really important to you?



It didn't take me long until I began to realize that much of my life, so far, has been spent in things that have little significance beyond myself. It is really sobering to think that latest Friends rerun I watched has no significance past the last second it ended. That Big Brother episode seemed so entertaining a few weeks ago, but now it seems like such a waste. We only have one chance to live. One chance to make a difference in the lives of others. One chance to get involved in activities that impact others long after we are gone. Isn't that significance what so many of us are really searching for? Isn't helping someone who is suffering so much more important than whether I have a 32" or a 50" hi-def television? We settle for self-indulgence instead of making a difference in other people's lives. Somebody else will help the folks in Galveston who've lost everything. Somebody else will help the homeless person. Somebody else will remember the single mother struggling to make ends meet. Somebody else will spend time with my family.



I encourage anybody reading this to take a hard look at how you spend your days. Nobody at the end of their life regrets the last business deal they didn't close, or that they earned 15% on their 401k instead of 20%. They regret chances not taken, and relationships not grown. Invest in other people. Invest in something larger than yourself. Discover who Christ is and why his message is so important to your life. If you do get the news one day that your life likely will be cut short, you won't care about the score of the latest baseball game, but you will care about your family, friends and those you've helped along the way. Your legacy will be one of investing in the lives of other people not doing what is best for number 1. These are the reasons for living and I pray that God reminds me of this every day.