“Life Can Change In A Minute”

 I have a tendency to translate the current moment into the new normal for the long term. If I’m having a “good day”, I think all my future days are going to be good…peaceful, sunny, healthy, happy. On the other hand, if I’m having a “bad day”, I can tend to project that into the future. 

The truth of the matter is that “life can change in a minute”. It’s amazing that we can have our plans made for our day or for the next week, and “BAM”, everything can change in a flash. No one ever planned to have a car accident that suddenly occurs in seconds. No one plans to go the doctor for a routine checkup and get a fatal diagnosis. No one expects the phone call that brings the terrible news of the death of a loved one. One moment we’re enjoying the moment and the next moment we’re in the middle of crisis. 

The constant for those who know God and have experienced his care and love, is that Christ will be there the moment before the “bad news” and the moment after you experience the news. In fact, it seems like his presence is stronger and clearer in the midst of the “bad news”, than before when things were “normal”.  “ It is better to enter a house of mourning that a house of feasting, since death is the end of every man, and the living should take this to heart.” ( Ecclestiastic 7:2)  

Why is that? Well, I’m not really sure, but it does seem that our trials can be the fire and wind that dissipates the “fog of this world” …..  the fog that causes us to focus on things that are passing away… my job, my money, my house, the country, the economy, the cultural challenges, even my health, even our loved ones. All of that is temporary and deep in our hearts we know it’s all temporary and passing away. When these things are threatened or even taken away, we’re left with a new reality… where our only real hope is in the Lord…. where the only one who can really save us is Christ.  Jesus is our hope. 

Recently some dear friends experienced a tragic loss… a painful body blow. There is no “earthy consolation” for this kind of loss…it’s too much, too hard. The only hope and consolation comes from the Lord. Only he has a remedy for this pain. Only Christ can provide hope. They are now operating in another realm. The things of this earth have grown strangely dim. Jesus is the only answer. 

So, “life can change in a minute”. Whether the change seems to be positive and a blessing or a tragedy, in Christ “all will be well with our soul”. And in the end he will have the last word. Death does not have the last word, sin does not have the last word, and the devil does not have the last word. Jesus Christ, the son of God, the redeemer of all mankind has the last word. And his word is mercy and hope and joy and peace.