Tim Wildmon
AFA president
January 2007 – Funny how life changes as you go though the years. For most people in America it goes like this.
Childhood is filled with wonder. Everything is a new experience. There is very little sense of time except that it seems like forever until Christmas arrives.
The teen years are filled with friends and fun. We look for and find excitement.
Singer John Mellencamp says of the post-teenage years: “Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone.” I don’t buy that idea, although there is an element of truth there.
Then most of us get married in our 20s, have children until we are 30 and then buy a mini van. I know some wait until they are in their 30s to marry and some even stay single, but generally speaking, what I have described here is how it works here in the good ol’ USA.
When you reach my current age of 43 you see that your kids are about to leave the home and become young adults. Pretty soon they will be having families of their own. The thought brings both joy and melancholy.
But this stage in life also makes you think about what lies ahead. You see, 43 is half way to 86. I graduated from Mississippi State University – that’s how I know these things. And 86 is nine years above the average life expectancy in America, which is 77 years of age. In other words, even at 43 – which many of you reading this consider “young” – I am probably on the downhill side of my time here on Earth.
What I am saying is cliché, but I will say it anyway. Life is short. No matter how you cut it, we are here today and we are gone tomorrow. The questions then become: What do we do with the time we do have? And does it all really matter anyway?
For most of us, this is where religious faith speaks. For me, this is where I want to know what God says about these matters and since God does not schedule face-to-face question-and-answer sessions in an audible voice, the best place to turn is the Holy Bible. Now, you might ask: “How do you know there is a God? And how do you know He is the author of the Holy Bible? And beyond that, how do we know that Jesus was the Son of God as Christians believe?”
These are very good questions. Questions which I don’t have the space to go into here, but may I refer to a short book I have recommended before. It’s titled More Than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell. And I will make the same offer I made a couple of years ago. If you will take the time to read it, I will be glad to send you a complimentary copy. (For you Ole Miss graduates, that means free.) Just e-mail or write me and request one. My e-mail is [email protected], and my address is P. O. Drawer 2440, Tupelo, MS 38803.
But my short answer is that I believe in God because of the order in the universe. From nature to the stars to the human experience here on Earth, everything points to a Creator and is consistent with what the Bible says about life. At least to my satisfaction. The idea that our existence is random and without meaning or purpose does not make any sense to me. If you have ever studied the complexities of the human eye, for example, the thought that it could have been put together outside of something supernatural is not logical. I could go on and on, but you get the picture.
Which brings me back to the questions I posed earlier: What do we do with the time we have? And does it really matter anyway?
God says both matter.
God desires that I obey Him. He says I am to love Him with everything I am. He says the main way I can demonstrate my love for Him here is to love other people. He says my first love on Earth should be my wife. My second love on Earth should be my children. So it seems to me my time here on Earth is best used doing God’s will, which is loving my wife, my kids and my fellow man. I can demonstrate that love in many ways. I can serve. I can help. I can care. I can work for the things God stands for and work against the things God stands against. For the Christian, the way we use our time either pleases God or displeases God. And the Bible teaches that we will be rewarded in heaven for the good that we did in His name while on Earth.
Amen. 
