Welcome to 2024! And thank you for joining me for the first
episode of the new year. I ask a special prayer for a gentleman named Omar, and a young lady named Kathy, her mother Sylvia, and her daughter Katrina, and her son Anthony.

Another year (2023) has ended, another list of inconsequential resolutions. A chronological file of all the things we are going to do this new year, in an all out attempt to better our lives and renew the relationships we have with others. While there is
absolutely nothing wrong with that approach, the truth is they usually do not last extraordinarily long. We have lists of books we desire to read, but we only manage to read one chapter, in the very first one; we vow to travel to witness firsthand the hidden beauty of the world around us, but still only journey as far as the local grocery store and gas station; our deepest desire is to diet, but if you are anything like me the “Coke a Cola” at McDonald's is too sublime to quite “cold turkey”, plus it taste far better than water; we want to fix our personal relationships, especially those of a familial nature, but somehow years of accumulated hurt,
sorrow, and anguish cause us to freeze completely, because we are afraid of the damage it may cause.

We would rather swallow it for another year in hopes of another opportunity (a perfect opportunity). Time is not limitless, and while we often seek occasions of opportune timing, it is rarely
perfect. For example, “perfect” is when you hit every “green” light, and your windshield wipers on a rainy day keep time with your favorite tune. How often does that happen? God affords us such grace, and for those listening this morning, it means he has given us another day to get it right.

We can fiddle-faddle with other issues in life, but time is of the essence when it comes to the necessity of our salvation. There should be an urgency of sorts, a need, and a desire to get things right and put them in order. We have marvelous ideas, and can create anything imaginable in our mind, but where our heart is indicates where we are in relation with God and others.

There is a song by Tim McGraw, that was released in June 2004, titled Live Like You’re Dying, as it refers to a gentleman in his forties (40’s) that only has days to live.

He said a moment came that stopped me on a dime
I spent most of the next days Looking at the x-rays
I asked him
"When it sank in That this might really be the real end
Man, what'd you do?"

And he said
"I went skydiving
I went Rocky Mountain climbing
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Manchu
And I loved deeper
And I spoke sweeter
And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying"
And he said
"Someday I hope you get the chance
To live like you were dying"

He said
"I was finally the husband
That most of the time I wasn't
And I became a friend a friend would like to have
Well I, I finally read the Good Book, and I
Took a good, long, hard look
At what I'd do if I could do it all again
"Someday I hope you get the chance
To live like you were dying

Consider if today was all you had. What would you do differently?

Today’s Podcast is titled.

Redeeming the Time

Ephesians
5:15-17

15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.