occasions when someone from InterVarsity would swing by for supplies and the door sprang open with a crash of brilliant light . As my eyes adjusted , squinting like a raccoon caught in a porch light , I saw the wide-eyed expression of shock sweep over the person ’ s face . Then , little by little , shock would give way to stunned bewilderment . Next , as they came to grasp that a student had inexplicably perched himself in the cabinet , it got awkward . No social etiquette exists for what to do when someone discovers you praying in a storage cabinet .
Perhaps I should have confidently reached over and offered the person a hymnal , as though I were hunched up there for just that purpose . I especially liked when they abruptly slammed the door shut , apparently realizing they had committed some terrible social sin — in the process plunging me back into the inky darkness .
It was worth it .
One moment I lifted up a concern to the Lord , and the next I heard in my mind urgent words not of my own design : “ While you still can !” I stumbled out of the darkness that day , troubled by what I had “ heard .”
I didn ’ t hear a sound caught by the ear , but instead a thought coming from outside myself . At first I wondered , Does “ While you still can ” mean my time on earth is short ? That didn ’ t seem to fit . Everyone ’ s time is short . As the words replayed in my mind , it dawned on me that , when you waste an opportunity in this life , you never get it back . We who follow Jesus must take action “ while we still can .”
Jesus said it this way : “ As long as it is day , we must do the works of him who sent me . Night is coming , when no one can work ” ( John 9:4 ). When I saw the same idea written in the Word , I came to understand that I had indeed
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