In the Nick of Time

When Asherel has morning tests, I time it to the minute when to leave the house. She is not a morning person so I let her sleep as absolutely long as she can and still have us arrive on time. Each year, as homeschoolers, we are required to do some sort of standardized test to prove that her teacher (me) is not just sitting home in pink fluffy slippers eating bonbons and reading trash novels while my homeschooler cleans the ashes in the fireplace. So every year, we do the ACT. Last year, we almost missed it because the route to the test was chock full of marathoners! The cops had no pity on me wailing that the marathoners were between me and my legal homeschool compliance. I made a wild detour and arrived with less than a minute to spare.

So this year...I forgot about the marathoners. But something tugged at my mind, and I made Asherel leave 5 minutes earlier than I had planned. We arrived at the same stop sign where I had been delayed twenty minutes last year. There were crowds lined on either side of the road, and cops everywhere, but apparently, the pack of runners had not yet arrived. I dashed through the intersection in the nick of time. Not 5 minutes later, the racing hordes arrived, but we were safely through.

A lot of us wait till the last minute. And sometimes, in procrastinating, we miss the important thing we should have gotten done. The world's most famous procrastinator was the criminal hanging on the cross with Jesus. Having led a life without God and now facing imminent death, he understood he had precious few moments to get right with God, and finally acknowledged Jesus as Lord.

Had I been 5 minutes later, I would not have made it through the intersection, and Asherel might have missed her test. That is nothing compared to the eternal consequences if I died tomorrow and had not acknowledged the Lordship of Jesus. Procrastinators, beware.

Proverbs 27:1 (NIV)
Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring.

1 Corinthians 15:32-34 (NIV)
If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” [33] Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” [34] Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God---I say this to your shame.



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