Never Too Late

God seems to be repeating to me the lesson, “It’s never too late.” I wonder what He intends me to learn from this?

LESSON #1:

Recently the story of Jesus’ crucifixion became prominent around Resurrection Day. I focused on His words, ““Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43) It was comforting to me to understand that Jesus could save this lifelong sinner and thief at – truly – the last minute.

LESSON #2:

A family member with whom I have a long complicated relationship is nearing the end of her life. She is in her 90s and is not Christian. It would pain me no end to see her die unsaved. Yet I need to remember that it is God who convicts and Jesus who saves, not me. And nothing I can say or do will change that. One of my church’s prayer volunteers reminded me that no matter how close to the end of her life she may be, we still don’t know God’s plan. For Him there is an infinite amount of time between one moment and the next, and we will never know what He has planned within our loved one’s heart from one moment to the next.

LESSON #3:

On a happy note, same theme – a longtime friend and lifelong learner recently sent me a note announcing that he will be receiving his Doctor of Education degree with an emphasis in Education Practice next month, “202 days before becoming eligible for Social Security.“

God bless this amazing man who inspires me endlessly: always going above and beyond to serve his community, always curious to learn something new every day, and always with God at his side. He doesn’t talk about Jesus a lot, although he certainly will if anyone wants to … but he’s just one of those people whose everyday life shines brightly with the light of the Lord. Congratulations on your Doctorate my friend; you definitely earned it. And thank you for showing the rest of us that it’s never too late!