Are You Ready To Stand Before God?

Live Prayer Daily Devotional November 29 2008
(James 4:14)

Life is a mist, are YOU ready to stand before God?

Last June, Tim Russert, the host of NBC’s Meet the Press and the Washington Bureau Chief for NBC news, woke up in Europe with his wife and son where they were celebrating his son’s graduation from college. He flew back to Washington in the morning to prepare for that Sunday’s Meet the Press program and was in the audio booth cutting some of the audio for the program when he had a heart attack and died.

Russert’s death is a classic reminder of what I share with you so often of how fragile this life is and how quickly it is over. Tim Russert woke up that morning in Europe, flew to Washington, was in his office preparing for his Sunday television program, and died before the day was over.

My friend, tomorrow is promised to none of us. We never know if we will even see the end of today!!!

We all take our lives for granted most of the time. TODAY, take a moment, and realize how brief your life really is. I am thankful to God to be here today, to still be doing what He has called me to do. But I never forget for a moment, our life is a gift from above. Don’t take it for granted!

For each one of us, the one certainty is that one day this life will be over and we will pass into eternity. It is not a question of if, only when. That is why I try often to reinforce to you that we must live each day to its fullest. Our purpose in this life is to serve and glorify God. When it is over, the only thing that we will take with us from this life is our personal relationship with Christ.

Back in August of 2001, I had a chance to play in a charity golf tournament. During these past 111+ months since Liveprayer started, I have had very little time to play a game I really enjoy. It was a very enjoyable round. Beautiful country club near Brandon, Florida. Warm but overcast Florida summer day. Wonderful people playing. Not to mention I actually played pretty well for not having played much.

On the 8th hole, I hit a 150 yard approach a little short and ended up in a greenside bunker. I was talking to the gentleman I was playing with as we approached the bunker. I have always had a very bad habit of chewing on my tee while playing. Nervous energy I guess. As I waited for another player in our foursome to hit his shot, I took a deep breath and actually inhaled the tee.

At first, I didn’t know what happened. Then, when I realized I had inhaled the tee, I tried to cough it up. It became apparent that it would not come out, and had gotten lodged in my throat part of the way down. One of the men came running over and asked if he should call 911. I told him yes. At this point, I realized the key was staying calm, and breathing. I was able to breath through my nose, so that kept me from panicking. My playing partner got behind me and tried to pop it out of me that way, but it was lodged in my throat sideways and that didn’t work. I could also now feel some blood running down my throat, obviously from the cut in my throat where the tee was lodged.

At this point, there was about a 30 second period when all of this was happening where an incredible calm came over me. In a very clear and concise way, I realized that I may actually die. You never know how these things will play out, and that was a legitimate possibility. My thought at this was one of gratitude. I remember clearly thanking God for such a wonderful life. I wasn’t praying for God to heal me, or take the tee out of my throat. I wasn’t begging for my life. I wasn’t mad at God. I just had a great peace about me, and an incredible sense of gratitude to God for allowing me to live such a wonderful life.

It seemed that within seconds I forced myself to swallow hard and all of the sudden felt the tee dislodge and go down. I drank some water, got my sand wedge, and hit a great bunker shot within a few feet of the hole! I got back to my golf cart and called my wife and simply told her how much I loved her. Even though I was still spitting up blood from where my throat was cut for the next several holes, I did finish the round. Needless to say, I have been broken of the habit of chewing on tees!

I share this with you today just to remind you how precious life really is. Not only how precious, but how quickly it can end. DON’T EVER TAKE YOUR LIFE FOR GRANTED. EACH DAY IS A SPECIAL GIFT FROM GOD. Let me also say that for anyone reading this today, that does not have 100% assurance that if your life ends today you will spend eternity with God, the Bible says TODAY is the day of salvation. Please take a few minutes, the most important few minutes of your life, and go to: http://liveprayer.com/plan.cfm . Pray and ask God to open your heart, then read the words and watch the short video clip. Please share it with everyone that you know who doesn’t know Jesus as their Savior.

I love you and care about you so very much. Please pray for Tim Russert’s wife and family, that they will know the Lords comfort and strength as they continue to deal with their loss. I don’t know if Tim had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ or not, but I know the second he took his last breath he was standing before God. At that moment, it didn’t matter that he was the well known host of Meet the Press, the only thing that mattered was if He knew Jesus as His personal Lord and Savior.

Death is a part of the human experience. The Bible says “O death, where is thy sting!” For those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ it is not an event to be feared, but one that simply marks the end of our time in this life. Don’t ever forget this important point. Only God says when our work here is over. So have no fear. As long as He still has work for us to do, we aren’t going anywhere. I guess He still has some work for me to do, just like He does you. I pray each day we are found faithful to that work until the day He calls us home!

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller
LivePrayer.com

Clean Blood

The day is over, you are driving home. You tune in your radio.You hear a little blurb about a little village in India where some villagers have died suddenly, strangely, of a flu that has never been seen before. It’s not influenza, but three or four fellows are dead, and it’s kind of interesting. They’re sending some doctors over there to investigate it.

You don’t think much about it, but on Sunday, coming home from church, you hear another radio spot. Only they say it’s not three villagers, it’s 30,000 villagers in the back hills of this particular area of India, and it’s on TV that night. CNN runs a little blurb; people are heading there from the disease center in Atlanta because this disease strain has never been seen before.

By Monday morning when you get up, it’s the lead story. For it’s not just India; it’s Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and before you know it, you’re hearing this story everywhere and they have coined it now as “the mystery flu”. The President has made some comment that he and everyone are praying and hoping that all will go well over there. But everyone is wondering, “How are we going to contain it?” That’s when the President of France makes an announcement that shocks Europe. He is closing their borders. No flights from India, Pakistan, or any of the countries where this thing has been seen.

That night you are watching a little bit of CNN before going to bed. Your jaw hits your chest when a weeping woman is translated from a French news program into English: “There’s a man lying in a hospital in Paris dying of the mystery flu. ” It has come to Europe. Panic strikes.

As best they can tell, once you get it, you have it for a week and you don’t know it. Then you have four days of unbelievable symptoms. Then you die. Britain closes it’s borders, but it’s too late. Southampton, Liverpool, London, and it’s Tuesday morning when the President of the United States makes the following announcement:

“Due to a national security risk, all flights to and from Europe and Asia have been canceled. If your loved ones are overseas, I’m sorry. They cannot come back until we find a cure for this thing.” Within four days our nation has been plunged into an unbelievable fear. People are selling little masks for your face. People are talking about what if it comes to this country, and preachers on Tuesday are saying, “It’s the scourge of God. ”

It’s Wednesday night and you are at a church prayer meeting when somebody runs in from the parking lot and says, “Turn on a radio, turn on a radio.” While the church listens to a little transistor radio with a microphone stuck up to it, the announcement is made,” Two women are lying in a Long Island hospital dying from the mystery flu.” Within hours it seems, this thing just sweeps across the country.

People are working around the clock trying to find an antidote. Nothing is working. California, Oregon, Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts. It’s as though it’s just sweeping in from the borders.

Then, all of a sudden the news comes out. The code has been broken. A cure can be found. A vaccine can be made. It’s going to take the blood of somebody who hasn’t been infected, and so, sure enough, all through the Midwest, through all those channels of emergency broadcasting, everyone is asked to do one simple thing: “Go to your downtown hospital and have your blood type taken. That’s all we ask of you. When you hear the sirens go off in your neighborhood, please make your way quickly, quietly, and safely to the hospitals.”

Sure enough, when you and your family get down there late on that Friday night, there is a long line, and they’ve got nurses and doctors coming out and pricking fingers and taking blood and putting labels on it.

Your wife and your kids are out there, and they take your blood type and they say, “Wait here in the parking lot and if we call your name, you can be dismissed and go home.” You stand around scared with your neighbors, wondering what in the world is going on, and that this is the end of the world.

Suddenly a young man comes running out of the hospital screaming. He’s yelling a name and waving a clipboard. What? He yells it again! And your son tugs on your jacket and says, “Daddy, that’s me.” Before you know it, they have grabbed your boy. “Wait a minute, hold it!” And they say, “It’s okay, his blood is clean. His blood is pure. We want to make sure he doesn’t have the disease. We think he has got the right type.”

Five tense minutes later, out come the doctors and nurses, crying and hugging one another some are even laughing. It’s the first time you have seen anybody laugh in a week, and an old doctor walks up to you and says, “Thank you, sir. Your son’s blood type is perfect. It’s clean, it is pure, and we can make the vaccine.” As the word begins to spread all across that parking lot full of folks, people are screaming and praying and laughing and crying.

But then the gray-haired doctor pulls you and your wife aside and says, “May we see you for a moment? We didn’t realize that the donor would be a minor and we need. . . we need you to sign a consent form.” You begin to sign and then you see that the number of pints of blood to be taken is empty. “H-h-h-how many pints?”

And that is when the old doctor’s smile fades and he says, “We had no idea it would be a little child. We weren’t prepared. We need it all!” “But but…” “You don’t understand. We are talking about the world here. Please sign. We – we need it all – we need it all!” “But can’t you give him a transfusion?” “If we had clean blood we would. Can you sign? Would you sign?” In numb silence you do. Then they say, “Would you like to have a moment with him before we begin?”

Can you walk back? Can you walk back to that room where he sits on a table saying, “Daddy? Mommy? What’s going on?” Can you take his hands and say, “Son, your mommy and I love you, and we would never ever let anything happen to you that didn’t just have to be.

Do you understand that?” And when that old doctor comes back in and says, “I’m sorry, we’ve – we’ve got to get started. People all over the world are dying.” Can you leave? Can you walk out while he is saying, “Dad? Mom? Dad? Why – why have you forsaken me?”

And then next week, when they have the ceremony to honor your son, and some folks sleep through it, and some folks don’t even come because they go to the lake, and some folks come with a pretentious smile and just pretend to care. Would you want to jump up and say, “MY SON DIED! DON’T YOU CARE?”

Is that what God is saying? “MY SON DIED. DON’T YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I CARE?”

“Father, seeing it from your eyes breaks our hearts. Maybe now we begin to comprehend the great love you have for us. Amen ”

- Author unknown