In a Heartbeat

 January 2, 2022

Everything can change in a heartbeat. When I woke up in Cuba last April 13, I was planning to attend a wedding of two of my Cuban friends in just a couple days. Little did I expect to get a call from home telling me that my son Nathan had a brain bleed and had been taken to the hospital. One phone call, and everything changed. The wedding I had been excited to attend suddenly became secondary in my estimation. In the nine months since, life has remained changed. My prayers are more focused, I am more focused on life and relationships, so much of this world’s distractions and attractions have lost whatever luster they once had for me. They just don’t matter anymore.

The people of Ukraine—Everything changed when Russia invaded. Life suddenly became “un-normal” for millions. Things that were important suddenly became secondary.

When the new year began yesterday, football fans were looking forward to the Bills-Bengals matchup. A game that would determine placement in the playoffs was on the minds of every fan. No one in America expected that one of the players would be fighting for his life soon after kickoff. For Damar Hamlin, everything changed in a heartbeat. The game suddenly became just that—a game. As I write, we don’t know how this will end; we just know that life can change drastically in a heartbeat, and if it can change for Hamlin, it can change for you and me, too. Jesus spoke to the uncertainty of life when he said, “Watch, for you don’t know the day nor the hour when the Son of Man will come” (Matthew 25:13). We usually think these words apply to the End of the Age, the Second Advent when Jesus returns to establish the Kingdom of God, but it is true for each of us with every single breath we draw. We don’t know which will be our last. We just don’t know. Which is why we are told to watch, to live as if the next moment will be our last. 

As a Christian, this means being aware of those around me. Many of my friends don’t know Jesus as the One who forgives their sins and offers them eternal life. Many of my friends don’t realize the seriousness of sin; the separation from God and others that occurs when we choose self over any and everyone else. Many of my friends are believers, but haven’t considered the seriousness of the call of God on their lives to bring the Good News of Salvation to others. And this includes myself. Every time I look into the eyes of another human being, I am looking into eternity. And when eternity is at stake, every moment counts…because everything can change in a heartbeat.