“Time goes fast on game day.”
Members of the Pioneer Baptist Church have probably heard me make that statement more than once, and it goes back to Liberty University and the Big South men’s basketball tournament, when my close friend of the last forty-seven years, Randy Dunton, was the head coach. Randy is as great a coach as there in anywhere in the world, but that’s not the point. When the Big South tournament rolled around in March, it was then held on the Liberty Campus, since their facility, the Vines Center, was the biggest and best in the conference. Well, on several occasions, Randy tabbed me to bring the pre-game devotions to the team, so I was there. And believe me, time goes fast on game day.
The opening game was on a Tuesday night, and if you were fortunate enough to win, the film study for the coaches began that same night. Before you knew it, there was a coaches’ meeting on Wednesday morning, practice following that, then more meetings with evaluations of your opponent’s players and discussing the team tendencies. And bingo, it was Thursday, “game day,” and if you were fortunate enough to win on Thursday, Championship Saturday loomed, and that came just as quickly, if not even more so. Careers rode on the outcome. “Win or go home” can have a much deeper connotation than whether the team plays another game or not. Going home can mean a coach is suddenly without an income, that assistant coaches are leaving Lynchburg, Virginia and moving back to Alaska, California, or wherever they can find purposeful employment. If this is a game, there’s a whole lot on the table, every coach has a whole lot of “skin in the game” and the hours between games suddenly feel like moments, as “Time goes fast on game day.”
Time also goes fast on the game day of our lives! If you’re high school or beyond, you’ve already seen it, and if you’re a Bible reader, you certainly have seen it there too. God knows everything I know, times infinity. The Bible says that we “…spend our years as a tale that is told.” (Psalm 90:9 KJV) and James 4:14 poses and answers this question “For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” Life goes super-fast, approaching light speed! We’ve got to make the moments count for Christ! The Apostle Paul, after relating to King Agrippa of his salvation experience while on the road to Damascus, said this, “Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.” If you’re a saved man or woman, (young or old) then you have caught the vision of Christ, calling you. Paul summarized the Christian life to the King in three words “repent, turn, and work.” Jesus said, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” Yes, the night of the day comes in a hurry, the night of this life comes in a hurry, and time goes fast on all of our game days, in whatever context we care to frame those game days.
Our Sunday worship is no game, but the speed in which it unfolds is just as fast, otherwise everybody would be at church on time! I get here to the church house early on Sundays, where I am right now. Pastor Enoch will be pulling in in a couple of hours, his Sunday School starts in three hours, and I need to go over and edit my notes, pray that God will use me and that my heart will be right, and that I can minister in a meaningful way. And no matter how early I get here, it seems like I’m rushing at the last minute to get my tie on straight and head for the pulpit. Even putting my thoughts down for this blog becomes a factor, time-wise.
Because time goes so fast on Sundays, I have decided to forego writing this blog on Sundays from here on, easing my conscience by telling myself that if anyone really wants to hear my Sunday thoughts, they can arrive at eleven o’clock or tune in on our livestream, and they can catch me again at six o’clock through the same means. It’s 6:58 right now on the Sunday morning of my life, and in the span of my life, it’s approaching midnight. And Time goes fast on game day!
Love and Prayers to you all,
Pastor
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