I was taking a personal assessment of my life recently which helped me gain a perspective on where my time was going or not going as the case may be. It's interesting how time seems to get away from us. We spend time on trying to get computer programs to cooperate, needless conversations, television programs, and the like then we wonder why we feel so rotten, having neglected the things we count important. So where has the time gone?

The Bible teaches us that the clock continues to tick for all of us and we'd be wise if we'd pay attention to it, be motivated by it, and make the most of the time we have.

Imagine a calendar with tear away pages and it's stacked to 29,200 pages for eighty years, one for each day. By the time you are five there are only 27,375 days left. When you reach twenty, you have just 21,900 days remaining. If you reach forty, it's just 14,600 days left on the calendar. By the time you are fifty, the pages are getting fewer, only 10,950 left. Whoa! OK - I think we get the point. But remember, there is no guarantee of tomorrow and that is why God says in Psalm 90 that we should use the ticking of the clock and the brevity of life to make sure we apply our hearts to wisdom.

If you knew your days were few, what would you change? Would it be worth getting as upset as we do at things we cannot change? Wouldn't it be worth enjoying the moment more and spending time with those we love? God says, if we are wise, we'll not wait for the doctor to diagnose us with an incurable disease before we get smart, we'll do that right now.

Quit making excuses and putting off until tomorrow those little things you'd do if you knew your days were few. Do it now! Seize the moment! Allow yourself to enjoy your life now.

I heard Tony Robbins on television with Larry King Saturday night and he said he met an incredible women at a spa one time who seemed to be the only person who was enjoying life. When asked what lit her fire she said that she had a brain tumor and was given only a few weeks to live by the doctors so she wanted to enjoy them to the max by helping to make it enjoyable for everyone else. Who knows she said, "I may be cured of this so why not enjoy all my remaining days." Incredible story but no more incredible than yours. She saw the brevity of life and it moved her. How about you? You may not have been given alarming news by your doctor, or maybe you have, but you have received a due warning from God that life is short so if you are going to make something of it - quit putting off living and get a life. That life is found by applying yourself to God's wisdom.

Just don't put it off.

GODSPEED!

Bob Brubaker, a.k.a. "SPAM MAN"

Have you ever been in conversation with someone on the phone when they've received another call either via another line or via call waiting? Doesn't it make you feel less than important to that person? If the person wanted to make you a priority the incoming call could have waited. We all do it though. In this "instant information" age, we are tempted all the time to drop the priority and deal with the urgent. The phone rings, the instant messenger or "you've got mail" goes off, the beeper vibrates, the doorbell plays, and a hundred other things that cry "URGENT" for our immediate attention. The problem with jumping to the urgent we lose our focus and concentration on our priorities.

There was a guy in the Bible who dealt with this very problem. His name is Nehemiah. Although he was busy rebuilding the broken down wall of Jerusalem, he was receiving one urgent message after another from people who were trying to distract him. They invited him to a meeting. They threatened him. They even accused him falsely. Nehemiah didn't budge. In fact his answer is classic.

Don't miss that phrase in verse 3 - "Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?"

Wouldn't that be a great question to ask ourselves the next time the URGENT tries to get our immediate attention? Can't the answer machine get the message? Can't we ignore the instant messages or the incoming emails? Why should we stop what we are focused on doing to deal with the urgent? No wonder people go home at the end of the day feeling completely exhausted yet feeling like they have accomplished nothing.

Jesus' advice was simple:

Don't look back, don't look around, don't lose your focus. There will always be ten thousand distractions and most of them will come to you with an URGENT label. You have to make the decision if the urgent also has priority on it.

Jan and I decided a while back in our marriage that the answer machine would get all incoming calls while we were eating. We decided that the time together was of such priority that all other things no matter how urgent they might be, will have to just wait.

Wouldn't it make sense to give the people who mean the most to us - the priority they deserve? Take a lesson from Nehemiah and realize every time you answer the call of the urgent you have loosened your grip on the important.

GODSPEED!

Bob Brubaker, a.k.a. "SPAM MAN"

Remember dreaming big dreams when you were a kid? Remember how easy it was to daydream as some called it? It was easy to allow little details to fill your mind as you would visualize something out in the future that seemed as real as if you were there. Then something happens along the way. We begin to lose sight of those dreams, get caught up in the everyday routines, and think of those dreams as a mere hallucination. But life is dull when you fail to dream. No wonder Solomon, the man God filled with wisdom said when we fail to dream or catch a vision we seem to perish.

I am thankful for opportunities to talk to kids in schools regarding the pursuit of dreams. I am always amazed to hear one or two in every crowd who relate their dreams and often tell of the lack of encouragement they have in their pursuit. No wonder Solomon said that words of encouragement are most precious.

Call it help whatever you like - there is nothing better than seeing the look on a person with a dream when someone affirms their dream and gives them encouragement to pursue what God has laid on their heart. It's like seeing the person begin to break out of the cage and be set free.

Nehemiah was a man with a dream in the Old Testament. His dream to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem seemed like an impossible task. Many people did not understand him, others tormented him, but Nehemiah followed his dream. As he depended upon God - he saw his dream come to fruition. As Nehemiah followed the freedom in dream pursuit he demonstrated three outstanding qualities, typical in people who follow their dreams.

CONVICTION - Nehemiah did not allow misunderstandings or discouragement to keep him from his dream. Likewise, if you have really caught the dream and are willing to follow it - you are led by conviction, knowing what you have to do and are willing to do whatever is necessary to get the job done.

MOTIVATION - Nehemiah's conviction not only motivated him but his life was a motivation to others. If you'll read the book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament you'll find the workers who doubled as armed guards as they built the wall were trained in neither area. It's amazing how a person who followers his or her dream inspires and motivates others to do great things. People around Nehemiah may not have understood everything about what he was doing but they understood he was a person who followed his convictions.

DETERMINATION - Nehemiah would not give up. His convictions got him going, his motivation kept him going, but his determination would not allow him to stop until the job was done.

What is your dream? What has captured you? Have you given up on dreaming, believing that lie that says, "nothing good will ever happen anyway?" Take a moment and read the following and ask God to help you get out of the rut of perishing to the freedom in pursuit of your dream.

GODSPEED!

Bob Brubaker, a.k.a. "SPAM MAN"