iLonnie.com

Archive for December, 2007

It is not the years of your life, but the life in your years that matters. The story of Carrie C. White illustrates this. Carrie was a Florida resident who died in 1991 at the ripe old age of 116. Just think of all you could do with a life span of 116 years. Looking further into her story reveals that she was a resident of a Palatka, Florida nursing home at the time of her death. At 116 it is not surprising that she lived in a nursing home. The sad thing is that she entered the nursing home 82 years before she died! I don’t think I will mind living in a nursing home from ages 110 to 116, but I do not want to live in a nursing home for the last 82 years of my life.

Once a group of young people were discussing old age when the age of 95 came up. One of them asked, “Who in the world would want to live to 95?” Some else answered, “Well, I guess anyone who is 94.” After thinking about Carrie White, we can’t help but add, “Yes, but only if it really is living.” Just breathing is not living. Living means doing something with life.

A first grade teacher was going through the grief of losing her mother. Children pick up on things and one of the students noticed that the teacher was not doing well. She came up to the teacher and asked what was wrong. When the teacher shared the loss with the child, the little girl answered, “Well, I hope you live until you die.” Maybe the little girl did not fully understand it, but she said something profound. Too many people do not live until they die.

For many years Dean Martin was part of the Hollywood scene. After he died, one of his close friends noted that Dean Martin had lost his will to live when his son died several years before him. “He never was the same,” the friend said. Sometimes there are things that take your life before they take your heartbeat.

It must not be that way for us. 10,000 years from now, we will all be living somewhere. 100,000 years from now all of this will be a distant memory for us, but we will not be just a memory. A million years from now. We will all be alive. Nothing should happen here to make us lose the will to live the plan that God has for us.

It is not the number of years you live while here that matter. It is the kind of life you live. A million years from now the life you live then will be a reflection of the life you live now. Life here is just a preparation for the life that is to come.

Lonnie Davis

For 12 years, King Saul hunted David like he was an animal. For 12 years David fled from his home land. He lived in caves, hid in mountains, and even lived with his old enemy, the Philistines. Maybe the most dramatic moment of all was when David was hiding in a cave. It happened that King Saul went into that cave. David, at the urging of his men, had the opportunity to kill Saul and end the reign of terror. David took out his knife and then instead of killing Saul, he merely cut off a piece of his robe. Saul never even knew it happened. When Saul left the cave, David showed him the cutting and shouted to him, “May the Lord Judge between you and me.” (1 Sam 24:12).

He could have killed Saul, but instead he left vengeance to God.

We love to call David “a man after God’s own heart” and long to become a man or woman after God’s heart. What does it mean to be a man or woman after God’s own heart? This moment in David’s life gives us insight into his heart. Instead of seeking vengeance or even justice, David was willing to let God handle things. He said, “May the Lord judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you.” (24:12). In modern language he said “Saul, I don’t understand why you are trying to kill me, but I will not raise my hand against you. I will let the Lord handle all of this.”

It is a rare person who can truly agree to disagree and not let it destroy the relationship. We all want all want relief. We all want justice. We all want our own way. We can be like the little boy who came home from school and told his mother that the bully in class had hit him and that tomorrow he was going to hit him back. His mother told him that vengeance belongs to the Lord and he needs to let God handle it. Little Johnny replied, “Okay, I will give him until Friday.”

Sometimes you have to agree to disagree, but in so doing, you must not be spiteful or hateful. He you must not cut off the other person. Let him or her be who they are. You have to say, “May the Lord judge between you and me.”

Can you do that? If so, then maybe you are a man or a woman after God’s own heart.

Lonnie Davis