As human beings we love to celebrate milestones, anniversaries, important dates, and days to remember. That's why in our culture we have birthday parties, anniversary gifts, and graduation presents. These are big events that happen in our lives that we want, or that we need, to remember.
We celebrate our national independendace, take a break on Labor Day, and remember on Memorial Day.These are important to who we are.
Of course there are important days in the life of the Church as well, most of the ones mentioned in the Bible we don't celebrate as holidays or high holy days such as the Feast of tabernacles, or Purim. Pentecost has taken on a much different meaning thanks to our Acts 2 understanding.
Other events that highlight important aspects of our faith we do celebrate, such as Christmas and Easter, even though the Bible never mentions these as days we have to commemorate. We do so because they mark important events that we want to remember.
This Friday is that kind of day for me, an important day I mark on my calendar because I want to remember. It was July 21, 2007 when I had a heart attack. And it was that day I accepted a call that I believe God placed on my life to submit to pastoral ministry and preach the word and lead churches in our denomination.
I had said no to that call for a long time, even though I had researched it, I made my spreadhsheet with the pros and cons of it, and I had numerous conversations with others about it. In my heart I knew that God was calling to pastoral ministry in the United Methodist Church, but I fought it for a long time.
And then I had a heart attack. All of the important things I had been focused on with my career stopped. All the things I had planned to do with my family were put on hold.
I remember lying on the gurney in the ER at Johnson City Medical Center with all the frenzy going on around me, and for the first time in my 35 years of living I thought, "This might be it. I could really die here today."
Apparently on my way to the OR I told Heather I was "going to do this Methodist preacher thing", and she said something like, "OK, just don't die."
And I didn't. But that day is marked on my calendar for me as a reminder. I believe that God called us into this life. I and I believe that God has brought us to this time for a speicifc reason and a purpose. And I belive that God led me into the United Methodsit Church for a reason back in 1994 in Chuckey, Tennessee.
And so this Friday I will celebrate this day, and I will remmeber this day. I will celebrate by having brunch with a wonderful church couple, and then date night with my wife. And I will remember because I give thanks to God that I am even here. I give thanks to God that he spared me. I give thanks to God that he allowed me a chance to say "yes" to his Will, even though I had been saying no so many times before.
I don't remember the date of my salvation, when I first said "yes" to Jesus, but I believe that I need to do that every single day, it's not a one and done. I don't know what day I was baptized on, even though I remmeber some of the events of it.
But, July 21 is a memorable day for me. It is a reminder that every day, no every breath is a gift, and it makes me think about how I am using each one of these precious gifts. Let's make the most of each breath today.
