Have you ever felt the seasons break dramatically? One day you’re wearing shorts and the next day you’re searching for a parka! The winds shift and the seasons change. Sometimes a single day can start in heavy snow and end with a summer’s breeze. The end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 was that dramatic for me.
2019 brought with it the culmination of countless personal goals. There were so many things I wanted to accomplish before I turned forty and it seemed like the horizon shrank before my eyes. Things that were a far way off at 30 are now in my rearview mirror.
I had so many goals for the 2010s! I wanted to complete a master’s degree in intercultural studies to strengthen my interactions with the incredible men and women Elise and I have the privilege to work with. I wanted to read 1000 books. I wanted to write my first book before turning 40 (which now sits alongside other works of academia in the SAGU library). I wanted to teach in three African bible school in three different language (yes, that different language this time was English!). I wanted to crossover the decades, like I’ve done every decade since 1989-1990, in my beloved Africa.
So many milestones, so many multi-year goals. All completed. It left me with a sense of accomplishment, but it also left me asking, “What’s next?” These were my “Before 40” goals but I’ve got time before March 2022. I still have time in the gap.
As I prayed, I sat with 26 months in my hands, the hourglass of 116 weeks left before my fourth decade begins. What I found is an army of 800. 800 days. The potential of 800 mornings ready for worship. The endless possibility of 800 evenings to sit with my children.
In those 800 days our oldest will cross into her teenage years, with the other three fast on her heels. In those 800 days there are old languages that need to be fortified and new languages to be learned. In those 800 days there are new bible school students to mentor. In those 800 days there are new churches waiting to be planted and new relationships to be formed.
In those 800 days will be suffering. Days when it will be hard to get out of bed. In those 800 days there will be rejoicing. Nights when the singing and celebration echo the heavens. In this 800 days, some days will fall, fail to live up to their promise, but behind them are still new days awaiting the dawn, a phalanx of Fridays awaiting the Sabbath.
Dreaming about the next 800 days I found myself drinking in Jesus’ answer to the expert in the law, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself,” (Luke 10.27).
In 26 months will I be able to say that I stewarded each day well, with their potential for spiritual, academic, and physical growth? Will my family and my community be closer to God because of my obedience to steward the blessing I bear in the time set before me? As I set new goals are they saturated in purpose and praise?
We can set goals and walk out the steps of our dreams for the future, but in the journey let’s not lose focus on the rich potential of today. Tomorrow is not promised to us (James 4.13-14) and our yesterdays have past. What will we do with today, this single soldier standing before us?
The winds are shifting. Are we ready?
