P-Pep! Dashing for Deadlines - Guest blog post

“More haste, less speed.” That byword has proven very true for me. We’re more likely to make mistakes when rushing. Our fingers become thumbs and we drop things. Or we dash out of the house, jump into the car, pull out of the driveway, get half-way round the block, then realize we’ve left our driving licence. By the time we turn around, fumble for the house key, open the door, and retrieve the forgotten item, and get back to the point where we remembered we forgot, we have a net loss of time. More hurry, less progress.

Deadlines appear to accelerate the nearer they draw, finally rushing upon us, bellowing in our minds, “Ready-or-not, here I come!”– especially when we’ve a train or plane to catch. Deadlines come and go, regardless of one’s state of readiness. You know the feeling? Unreadiness catches me all too often. When I opened up last week’s Guide to check over P-Pep! I was embarrassed to see that I had some really bad sentence construction. Mistakes were overlooked in my rush to get it off to the newspaper office.
Then I thought of the Guide staff; they don’t have just one little article, but many articles, advertisements, and news reports to formulate, typeset, and arrange layout. “Ready-or-not, here I come!” yells the weekly deadline for getting the whole thing off to the printers.

Now, whether we talk in terms of a deadline coming to us, or view it as though we were approaching it, it’s relative–even a moot point–as to which of us moves. Have you ever been on one of those huge people-moving conveyor belts at an airport? Once you’re on it, even if you stand still and do nothing, you’ll eventually find yourself at the other end. Imagine if that thing could talk: “The end is a-coming, my friend, so you’d better have your luggage and passport in hand and your feet ready for action to take that final step off, or you will have an embarrassing trip when you get there!” Some people have tripped and fallen at the end of those things.

Perhaps you’ve seen cartoons portraying a bearded religious guy bearing a sandwich-board with such messages as, “The end is coming ...Prepare to meet your doom!” Now the Scripture does talk of a challenge presented to ancient Israel for them to “prepare to meet your God” (Amos 4:12). That’s good advice for us, too. We don’t know just when life’s conveyor will pitch us off. It’s a deadline (no pun intended) that’s coming, and we are coming to it. We may back-walk a little on this conveyor of life by keeping fit, ensuring we have good nutrition, and have the best of healthcare, but the end is still a-coming.

We prepare ourselves for many things in life, but are we prepared to meet our Maker? All excuse and self-commendation will be as “sounding brass and tinkling cymbals” on that day; the beating of a worthless, hollow drum. How much better to be able to say, “Dear God and loving Heavenly Father, I thank You for the gift of Your Son, through whose sufferings, death, and resurrection You’ve granted the forgiveness of all my sins and failings. I’ve placed my trust in Him completely and continue to rest in Your mercy for my eternal welfare. Amen.”

This Gospel–the Good News–of our Lord Jesus Christ is a marvellous “Lifeline”!

Peter A. Black - Writing to Raise the Gaze

"Parables from the Pond"(Shortlisted in Word Alive Press' 2007 Contest.)
www.raisethegaze.com
Meet Nancy Newt, Francis Frog, Cecil Snake, and all of their friends.

Available from Christian Booksellers and the author. ISBN 1897373-21-X