jordanabina
Just over a week ago, my daughter June turned 13 years old. She is a beauty, both inside and out, just like her mother. I was caught off guard by a wave of emotions and feelings as I looked at this blossoming young woman who, on the day she was born, fit into the palms of my hands. I processed through the reality of how fast time passes and have found myself looking through our old family photo albums wondering where all these moments have gone. If I’m being honest, I feel like I was 13 years old, like, 2 years ago; when in reality, it was much longer than that.
Then add God to the mix. The timeless one. Is the Lord young? Is He old? Has He ever felt like the time had just passed Him by? When Jesus was on earth, and perhaps closing in on His 30th birthday, I wonder if He asked, where has the time gone? It encourages me to know that in the person of Jesus, God being outside of time, added human nature to His divine nature and felt the pull, and maybe the sting, of time.
In the 13 years that my daughter June has been alive, there have been so many things that happened. 9 days before June was born, the San Francisco Giants won the first of the 3 World Series that I would be able to see. My wife and I couldn’t have ever seen the life that was unfolding in front of us, we couldn’t have dreamed it up if we tried. Only in time, and with faith, do we get to see the things that God has in store for us. From that day in a hospital room holding little Junebug we’ve preached hundreds of sermons, spoken to thousands of people, cried with family, and laughed with friends. We’ve seen wars and have aided the pain in different parts of the world. We’ve been successful in many ways and have failed miserably in others. All in the blink of an eye.
Just this week, I was listening to the album Eight by Brooke Ligertwood. In a collection of music she gracefully weaves her musical prayers together, some new and some old. In her song Lead Me To The Cross, there’s a line I’ve heard so many times before, but the Holy Spirit lit it on fire as I listened. She writes:
Everything I once held dear. I count it all as lost. Lead me to the cross.
I picked up my Bible and flipped to find those words as they were written by the Apostle Paul so many years ago, a time long passed. He writes in Philippians 3:
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:7-11
So much time has passed and so many precious moments have taken place, but in the end, it all comes down to Jesus. I had forgotten this. Not purposely forgotten, but passively. Like a mother whispering the words I love you to her son, he hasn’t forgotten, but the words remind him of what’s always been true and always feels right repeating. I have had so many gains as Paul puts it, but the object of my faith and the treasure of my life is to be known and to know Jesus. He is what matters most. And in Him, I’ve come to see that I am not lucky, instead, I have a loving Father who in His good and perfect will has allowed me to hold a newborn baby 13 years ago and a baby boy not longer after that. Over the span of time I have been blessed and I have also gone through times of pain, but Jesus remains.
In “Answers to Questions on Christianity” God in the Dock, C.S. Lewis writes: “Christ said it was difficult for “the rich” to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, referring, no doubt, to “riches” in the ordinary sense. But I think it really covers riches in every sense—good fortune, health, popularity, and all the things one wants to have. All these things tend—just as money tends—to make you feel independent of God, because if you have them you are happy already and contended in this life. You don’t want to turn away anything more, and so you try to rest in a shadowy happiness as if it could last forever. But God wants to give you a real and eternal happiness. Consequently He make take all these “riches” away from you: if He doesn’t, you will go on relying on them.”
June turning 13 has caused me to feel how much time has passed, to see how God has done in my own life, and through His word I’m reminded again, that He loves me. Whatever has transpired in my life, you must know that it is all because of Jesus, there are no natural explanations for the moments that have transpired since giving my life to Him. Even now, I’m listening to I’ve Found Jesus by Delirious? In my basement in the city of Grenoble, France. I’m thankful for the time that’s passed, thankful to be known by Jesus. Thankful for those who pray and support my family; never will I ever be able to fully express my gratitude.
Last night in church, in a silent moment in communion, I heard the Holy Spirit say to my heart, I’m with you, I’m still with you. What is the passing of time if Jesus is with us? Is He not ushering us into where time will no longer be a thought? I pray we can echo the words of Paul and pass the time with courage.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12-14
