Christian Living
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE As A Member OR Visitor
Message Writer
Hire Writer
Report Article
"I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old." (Psalm 77:11)
A vivid recall, or a senior moment as some younglings often call it, can be a blessing in disguise. Having been retired now for a number of years, I sometimes waken to ask the wife what day it is. You see, in my vivid recall I have no trouble relating to the times of my past, it's the "now" that often hassles my memory, such as this related blog.
I was out for my usual afternoon leisure walk when the most bizarre, outlandish, extraordinary happening took place.
All of a sudden, I caught myself wandering down an old school house hall. "Wait a minute. Is this not my old school house, the one that was torn down years ago? How can this be?"
Then unexpectedly I found myself walking with a gentleman. "You look remotely familiar, who might you be?"
"Don't you remember your tenth grade chemistry teacher?" he quipped.
"Why, of course I do! Mr. Dab, you were my favorite teacher, even though you did give me that "F" for my late homework assignment. How have you been?"
Without an answer, Mr. Dap motioned for me to follow him. After a short walk down the hall, he led me into a dark room. As soon as we entered, the room lit up. What a strange sight, the walls of the room were decorated with old calendar pages of years gone by.
"Do these look familiar?" Mr. Dap asked.
As I looked around the room, those torn calendar pages seemed to come alive in my memory. It was easy to recognize them, as the days were marked by various important events happening in my life.
I guess Mr. Dap happened to pick up on my facial expressions, as he begin going over some of these old calendar page notations by asking such questions as, "Did you have a good time on this holiday picnic?" "Was this birthday enjoyable?" and "Do you remember breaking your arm in football?" as he continued. The more he reminisced, the more tears I shed.
"Well, if truth be known, some of these past memories were good, and some not so good," I answered.
"Such is life," he replied.
Then all of a sudden, he stopped abruptly and asked, "Did you number your days? Do you now number your days?"
Whatever did Mr. Dap mean, I wondered.
Seeing his remarks must have puzzled me, without further ado he quoted a particular Scripture verse.
"So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom." (Psalm 90:12)
"May I ask you, Sir, why this Bible verse? How does it pertain to my past, my present, or even my future?" I remarked.
Mr. Dap was so quick to answer that I could almost read his lips through that big smile of his face. He simply responded by saying, "Yesterday is gone, and today is almost gone. So let us concentrate on the days ahead that are yet to come. You see, according to this scripture our days here on earth are limited. (James 4:14) So it behooves all of us to be wise and number them," he said.
He continued, "You must not only number your days, but you should never waste them either. You must prepare for the bad days as well as the good ones."
At this point, I just had to stop Mr. Dap and ask, "How may I prepare for something, when I don't know exactly how it may happen?"
Like all those bright deductions Mr. Dap always had in his teaching, he suddenly was able to answer my concern. He merely brought up God's creation, in comparison to my question.
"How did the first days of creation begin?" he asked. "Before any days of His creation, did God not plan, did He not prepare?"
"Yes, He clearly purposed them."
"Are you not a child of God?" Mr. Dap continued.
"Why you know I am, do you not remember those after-school devotion periods?" I remark.
"So go and do likewise," he concluded.
"Well, good advice, any additional helpful hints?" I asked.
"Yes, pray for the days that don't yet exist. You see, my fellow student, prayer is for the unknown, as well as the known," he concluded.
Still having my doubts, I said, "But I can't determine the future."
"It doesn't really matter," he responded. "You simply leave your days ahead up to God, to bring about what is good for your Christian growth. There again, don't just let your days waste away, prepare for them according to God's word. Just continue to pray that you may be a living vessel of blessing to others and yourself." And with this great sermon, Mr. Dap disappeared, never to be seen by me again.
What happened next? Well, I woke up. Woke up from where, you may ask? I don't rightly know. But one thing I do know. When I picked up the daily newspaper, and checked over the obituaries, the strangest thing happened, as if by divine intervention. I found that Mr. Dap had passed from this life two days ago. This alone not only gave me chills, but also brought tears to my eyes and shouts of joy. What a great man of God was he! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Author's Postscript
Much like these old calendar markings, our heavenly Father wants to replace our old self-centered sin nature with His eternal things. It's His everlasting Word that encourages us to forget self and take an eternal interest in others. (Philippians 2:4, 7, 9)
Yes, God's best personal blessings often come into our lives through unexpected paths. So, do you need encouragement? Then, search His Word. (2 Timothy 3:16)
You see, we are blessed more when we bless others. (Proverbs 11:25) And by praying, we lift up our vision toward our Father, God. Thus, we follow in the footsteps of Jesus. (Matthew 20:28)
Like the common down-to-earth philosophy of our Mr. Dap in this fictitious blog, we should prepare for the days ahead and commit all our days to His keeping.
PLEASE VISIT MY REVISED WEB PAGE FOR SOME GOOD BLOGS AND MUSIC http://ccrobey.wixsite.com/themessage
PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE AS A MEMBER OR VISITOR
This article has been read 580 times < Previous | Next >
Free Reprints
Main Site Articles
Most Read Articles
Highly Acclaimed Challenge Articles.
New Release Christian Books for Free for a Simple Review.
NEW - Surprise Me With an Article - Click here for a random URL
God is Not Against You - He Came on an All Out Rescue Mission to Save You
...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... 2 Cor 5:19
Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38
LEARN & TRUST JESUS HERE
FaithWriters offers Christian reading material for Christian readers. We offer Christian articles, Christian fiction, Christian non-fiction, Christian Bible studies, Christian poems, Christian articles for sale, free use Christian articles, Christian living articles, New Covenant Christian Bible Studies, Christian magazine articles and new Christian articles. We write for Jesus about God, the Bible, salvation, prayer and the word of God.