When I share my testimony with people , I often compare life to a game of football , where we are the players , God is our head coach , and the Bible is our playbook . But there ’ s one other piece I always bring up — the clock . No matter what ’ s happening on the field , at some point , that clock is going to read 00:00 . That ’ s it . Game over .
Now , typically , the point I ’ m trying to make is that in the game of life , we don ’ t know how much time we have left , which is why it ’ s so important to make the decision to surrender our lives to Christ before our clock hits 00:00 . I still believe that .
But one of the things I ’ ve learned since my son , J . D . went home to be with the Lord is that our clock and God ’ s clock are different . We tend to look at things from an earthly perspective , but God looks at them from an eternal perspective . Here ’ s what I mean by that .
I really struggled with the fact that I only got to spend forty-nine years with J . D . I wanted more time with him — here and now . But now I realize that those forty-nine years I had with J . D . on earth are only a drop in the bucket compared to the eternity I ’ m going to spend with him in heaven . Likewise , J . D . may have suffered for five years here on earth , but now he is in the presence of his heavenly Father in perfect health , and he is going to be that way forever .
I couldn ’ t understand why God failed to show up during J . D .’ s illness . I couldn ’ t understand why J . D . had to suffer at all , let alone as much and as long as he did . I questioned whether there was a reason for J . D .’ s suffering , and I questioned whether J . D . truly reaped the rewards of a life well lived . Once again , it came down to a question of perspective .
“ In the game of life , we don ’ t know how much time we have left , which is why it ’ s so important to make the decision to surrender our lives to Christ before our clock hits 00:00 . I still believe that .”
In my mind , for God to show up meant J . D .’ s healing , and because I was so focused on that , I didn ’ t see all the amazing ways and places that God did show up . Though there were days God felt very far away , the truth is , He has never been closer than He was during those five difficult years .
In fact , at his memorial service , JD ’ s wife Melissa did an amazing job of highlighting all the ways in which God was present during those five long years . Here ’ s what she said :
“ I want to thank you all for the ways that you ’ ve cared for us in recent years . So many of you would have gladly carried this burden for us for a spell if you could , but since that wasn ’ t possible , you found other ways to serve us . You prayed harder than I did . You baked . You cooked . You carpooled . You invested in my kids . You wrote letters , sent cards , bought gifts , traveled long distances to visit , and you wanted to know how we were really doing — even when you knew that answer would be hard to hear . You never backed away because of the sadness or the awkwardness of our life . You showed up and you stayed to the end .
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