Moonlit Meditation




I lie upon my bed tonight
But sleepiness evades me
And as I ponder on my life
A happiness invades me

I cannot fall asleep tonight
Because of this elation
As God's goodness shines down upon
My moonlit meditation
7/22/05

I distinctly remember sitting atop the roof of the computer lab at BA one night near the end of my junior year in high school. As I sat there drinking a bottle of Vanilla Coke, my mind reflected on the year that had just passed. It had been a good year. I had enjoyed countless good times at school that year, and I had grown a lot spiritually, partly thanks to my times at TC w/ T. As I thought about the year that was gone, I began to look forward to the next year with expectation. That summer I was going to Washington D.C., Presidential Classroom, California, and Survival Camp. The next school year I would be a senior in high school, looking to go to college. I also began to look toward the next year with expectancy. I knew that God was going to be good to me. I has observed all the ways that he had blessed, and knew that whatever happened, he was going to remain faithful and good this year.

He did. As I lay upon my bed a few nights ago, I again could not help but think about how great the last year had been, and how exciting the future would be. God had again blessed me in so many ways and taught me so many lessons. And as I was thinking, he made me think of two of those:

Life changes. This lesson is one that God has made very clear over the past year, especially over the past couple months. The first thing I heard on the day that I graduated from high school was that my grandma had passed away. The next day, my brother Billy graduated from college. The day after that my dad was officially offered a job at Grace Community Church in California. So my summer has found me preparing to move back to California, both to live and to attend The Master's College, which is another change that I am excited about. But change has not stopped there. Later in the summer we received the tragic news that Bill, Pam, Bethany, and Amy Rehrer had died in a car accident. In a moment, those four wonderful souls were in Heaven. My brother Billy has now officially left home. He starts working at KPMG next month and will have his own apartment in Orange County. Just today, I found out that my brother, Bobby, and his sweet wife, Christa, are going to have a baby.

Sometimes change seems like the only constant in our world, but we must always remember that God is constant--never-changing. He is always faithful; he is always good. As life changes, we must remember that, and we must also...

Seize the time. It feels like this last year has gone by at super sonic speeds. It seems like just last week that I was at Survival Camp, but Survival Camp '05 begins next Sunday. Even thought days may seem either short or interminable to us, time is always the same, and it just keeps moving. Therefore, we must seize the time and make the most of every moment. Life does go by fast, and we cannot let it go to waste. I have particulary learned how this applies to relationships. We must maximize the time we spend with other people. We should seek to deepen our relationships with our friends because we never know when we might move or when we might die.

In time, this year will turn into next, and life will go on until the Lord returns. But may we all remember that even as everything changes, God does not. He is a rock and a sure foundation. Let us also remember to seize the short time that we have, to make the most of every day and every friendship.

Currently listening to: "Flowers in the Window" by Travis. Congratulations, Bro & Sis.