Good morning, Samara.
I have a confession to make. All that stuff I told you about all the work I had to do yesterday—it wasn’t true. Well, it was true that I had those plans. But I suddenly turned irresponsible when I checked out the conditions on Mt. Hood. So I loaded up my gear and ran up the hill and wore myself out in just two hours of vigorous skiing. I sure had fun wearing myself out. I’ll stick on one photo as evidence. Maybe you can spot my track. I don’t really regret being irresponsible. Even Mama Becki encouraged me to do it. One little reality pushing on me to do it was the thought that it could be about my last chance to ski before heading to Vanuatu the first of March. Besides, since they let old guys like me ski free, why would I want to neglect that opportunity? I still found time to install a couple signs last evening.
OK, without even attempting an old man jog, I need to get busy with my list of objectives from yesterday.
I hope you have a good day doing what is most appropriate.
Love, Tua.
Wow! Look at the second word, Samara. This has to be a kind of divine confirmation for my doing the appropriate thing yesterday by skiing in the SNOW during the appropriate season—winter! After all, this is winter! And after all, it’s not reasonable to ski in the SNOW during summer. And one certainly cannot ski in the SNOW in Vanuatu. Well—I’m sure you recognize that I’m kidding—that I’m playing with words and meanings.
So what kind of appropriate meaning can we extract from this FOCUS VERSE? How about this: DO THE APPROPRIATE THING AT THE APPROPRIATE TIME. It occurs to me that the most appropriate thing for us all to do during this particular SEASON of time and life is to SEEK THE LORD. Let me cite a couple verses I memorized years ago in the KJV: “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7). The point is that this kind of serious heart-level activity NEVER GOES OUT OF SEASON!—that it’s always the right SEASON to be READY for the promised return of our Lord.
Question: If a person does not choose to do these things while in the SEASON of TIME, what do you suppose will be the result when that person enters the unavoidable SEASON of ETERNITY? The answer is tucked away right there in well-known John 3:16. The key word begins with “P” and ends with “SH.” Not a pleasant word. That sad outcome is also hinted at in our FOCUS VERSE—the last word—representing the opposite of being WISE.