It was explained to me that this was Providence’s own gospel choir and it was composed of employees from the hospital.  But what struck me the most were the differences among the singers.  They weren’t from any particular department of the hospital nor did they represent any particular church.  Rather, they were people from different ages, different races, different denominations–all coming together to give praise to God.  But that’s not all.  Because as I looked around the packed balcony of onlookers, something else struck me as well:  the audience was composed of a
melting pot of people as well. You could see surgeons standing next to housekeepers, administrators singing along with janitors.  In this room at this precise moment, status was not an issue. Your race….your age…..how much money you made….it simply didn’t matter because all of the focus was centered upon praising God.  Everyone was the same.

I know as “a manly man” I’m not supposed to admit such things, but at that exact moment, tears began to well up in my eyes.  I truly felt that I had experienced just a small taste of what heaven would be like for eternity.  And it made me want to be there.

“1 minute and 37 seconds?  That’s not bad,” I thought. So I waited……and waited…..and then I waited some more.  After about 6  or 7 minutes, another message came across the screen that read that I would have a wait of 1 minute and 37 seconds. “Hopefully, their timing is accurate now,” I assured myself.  So I waited again.  Five minutes passed and still no help.  Then another message came across the screen.  Yeah, you guessed it:  “you will be served in 1 minute and 37 seconds!”  It then dawned on me what was going on.  The site I was dealing with really had no idea of how long a wait I was going to have—it could be 2 minutes, it could be 20 minutes—but 1 minute, 37 seconds was an acceptable time to hook people and keep them waiting.  After all, anyone can wait for a minute and a half, right?

In life, we are always going to run into people (and their philosophies) who are a lot like that website.  They are going to say whatever needs to be said in order to pacify and appease their audience—when in fact, they really don’t have any idea of what the future holds.   Sometimes they come in the form of politicians who like to tell the public what they want to hear in regards to issues such as the economy or the environment.  Other times they may come in the form of futurists and social scientists who like to predict what the world will be like in 50 years.  (Hey, weren’t we supposed to have flying cars and space colonies by 2010?). Still other times they may come in the form of “wanna be” prophets who like to dabble in eschatology and tell their listeners when the world will end.

Listening to these folks for very long can evoke a number of emotional responses.  If the news is bad, it can cause people to panic and worry.  If the news is good, it can lull people into complacency or even apathy.  The truth is, no one really knows the future except God (read Matthew 24:36).  He is the author and creator of life and He is the One who decides future events (see Proverbs 21:1). The best thing to do as a believer in such matters is to simply trust in the sovereignty of God.

As Christians, it is best for us to be faithful to that which Christ has called us to do, so whatever the future actually does hold, we’ll be glorifying God as it transpires.  Remember, we don’t know what the future holds–but we do know who holds the future! In such turbulent times, trusting in God and His timeless Word is the wisest investment a person can make.

Possible causes to the problem began streaming through my head. Could moths have gotten into my t-shirt drawer? Could I have purchased a bunch of defective shirts? Are we using the wrong laundry detergent? I began to think and think as to what could have done such damage, and then it dawned on me what really happened. I remembered that when the twins were just infants that our son Braden would often bite my shirt as he laid on my chest. Braden loved to chew on things, and when his mouth got near my shirt, he would immediately clamp down. The two puncture holes were actually caused by my son’s two front teeth gripping my shirt. Since I held him every day, this meant holes in each of my t-shirts! In an instant, my thinking had been dramatically altered. The holes, which at one time were viewed as flaws to a once perfect shirt, had suddenly and drastically been transformed into a couple of beauty marks which pinpointed the part I played in an important period in my child’s life.

You know, it’s funny how ordinary, even boring, objects quickly become precious treasures when we attach a human experience to them. One man’s trash becomes another man’s treasure primarily due to the history one individual has with something that another may not. I truly believe that’s why some people become “hoarders.” They don’t want to throw anything away because of the sentimental value linked to the possessions they own. Now while I firmly believe that any one of us can take sentimentality to an extreme, I do believe however, that God expects us to use the stuff we own to serve those around us; and when we do, it brings significance to something that would otherwise be very common.

Take for instance the tires on your car. No one usually thinks about the tires on their car (unless of course, you need new ones!). I mean, come on, they’re just tires, right? But the next time you get in your car, take a moment and think where you’ve been on those tires. Have those tires carried you to the home of a friend who needed a visit? How about to a friend in a hospital or jail cell? Have you used those tires to take groceries to someone elderly who is immobile? Have you given a neighbor a ride to church? The point is, when we use the temporary things God has given us for His eternal purposes, it suddenly brings meaning to the meaningless and beauty to the mundane. Whether it’s a lawnmower, a fountain pen, or a human life, we can use perishable items for imperishable purposes. Even something as flimsy as a t-shirt can become beautiful and significant when we use it to serve somebody else!

Think of it this way: everything in your possession (even your own body) is going to eventually wear out anyway. But wouldn’t it be great if we wore those things out while doing something that would serve God and benefit others? It’s just something to think about.