Crazy Love Chapter 2: You Might Not Finish This Chapter

Chapter 2: You Might Not Finish This Chapter

*This post is not a nice “feel-good” story but instead one that most people would probably rather not think about. Just to let you know...

            When first reading the title of the chapter, I immediately thought that it meant the content of the chapter would be hard to stomach, that it would contain ideas I would not want to hear and I would have to drastically change my life in order to be who I am supposed to be. I thought the chapter would have a “fire and brimstone” feeling to it and I would want to just skip over it. In a way, it does contain some of those elements, but the title of the chapter was not exactly referring to those thoughts, but instead it referred to me personally, that I might not live long enough to finish the chapter. What a somber thought! Chan also mentions the fact that he might die while I read the chapter. Yes, this is some weird thinking and not something that I want to be pondering while sitting in my La-Z-Boy. But it honestly made me scared to keep reading at times, wondering if I will make it to the next chapter, page, or even sentence because no one really knows when it could happen. Going back to my original thinking on the title of the chapter, I found it to also be true in that sense as well. I wanted to just go to the next chapter at times and not have to think about the possibility of death. I wanted to move on and hear more of the nice fluffy sounding parts of Christianity. But the reality is, we need to hear some of these topics and get smacked in the face with it at times.

In a section of the chapter, Chan talks about the fact of “Are you ready?” Are you ready to face God? Your life could go at any time. Any time you drive a car going 55 mph with a vehicle coming at you the same speed only a couple feet away is not exactly the most sure thing in the wolrd if you think about it. There is no reason why today could not be the day you are standing in front of the throne of God and you will see his glory and give an account of how you have lived. Are you ready? Chan quotes Frederick Buechner in this chapter who sheds some more light on this thought:

“Intellectually we all know that we will die, but we do not really know it in the sense that the knowledge becomes a part of us. We do not really know it in the sense of living as though it were true. On the contrary, we tend to live as though our lives would go forever.”

We hear of people dying, see news events on TV, obituaries in the newspaper, we read in the Bible of death, and we read how we will be in the presence of God one day. But do we really take those to things to heart? Will we be ready to see him when that day comes?

This reminds me of an instance that happened at this past Christmas with my family. My niece who is just about 2 years old was looking forward to my other niece coming who is 1 ½ years old. She was saying her cousin’s name all day before she came and was asking when she would be coming. Her parents had done a good job of always showing her pictures of her so she knew what her cousin looked liked, and they even were able to see each other on Skype a few times. My niece had some sort of idea of who her cousin was. The time finally arrived when my other niece arrived. The 2 year old ran to the door and was held up by her dad and looked to see her cousin who was being held by her mother. All morning she had been saying her cousin’s name and getting excited. But in this moment, she was speechless and just stared. She had nothing to say. She had a good preconceived notion about who her cousin would be, but when they finally met face to face, she did not know what to do. Now obviously this story is far from us meeting face to face with God, and children have different minds than adults do. But it does shed some light on this fact though: Are you ready? My niece thought she really knew who her cousin was, but when the time came, she maybe was not as ready as she thought she was when she came face to face with her.

Our lives will not go forever. Are you ready at any given moment to face God and give an account for you life here on earth? Will you be speechless because you are in awe of God’s presence or speechless because you did not live the way you should have? Are you ready? These questions make you think about what you should be doing at this very moment. Often times we stress out about our job, family, money and just life in general. We are caught up in the technology and busyness of today’s society. But what should our focus be on? We are an extremely small speck of dust when compared to the eternity of creation. Chan states, “In fifty years (give or take a couple decades), no one will remember you. Everyone you know will be dead. Certainly no one will care what job you had, what car you drove, what school you attended, or what clothes you wore.” What will matter is what we did with our little time here on earth. Were we concerned with pointing everything in life to God? The whole story of the Bible is about God’s plan for His people and how he guided them. God created, God sent the flood, God directs them through the desert, God sends judges and prophets, the Son of God is sent to earth, dies, and is resurrected, God sends his Spirit, and one day, Jesus will come again and we will see God seated on the throne. And we sometimes get upset when we don’t know what clothes to wear on a given day or we don’t know what to eat when we have a fridge will of food??? How selfish of us to think some of these petty things should be made a big deal of.

            “God wants to be glorified, because the whole thing is His. It is his (story), His world, His gift.” Our lives are short, and some much shorter than others. What are you doing with your life? Are you concerned with getting compliments from others or are you remembering that the whole story is about God?

Are you ready?