New York, NY 2007: Long before all of our dreams and ambitions come to fruition, we must figure out what we’re going to do today and tomorrow. Lives not considering such have been known to vanish without sign or trace. Be and do something today, and leave your mark every day.

From Trent Ling:

Too many things in life must wait their turns.  How frustrating that can be.  We stand in line, go to school, pay our dues, prove ourselves, watch for opportunities, and dream by night and day of what might be at some point down the road.  In most cases, little or nothing ever really materializes.  What a waste and sad state of affairs.  Such a faux existence suspended in permanent anticipation just cannot be.

I have long admonished many to determine what in the world they are going to be and do in the meantime (before they become superstars).  What baseline standards shall be in effect, what efforts will be exerted, and what fruit will be produced in the meantime?  Without such everyday determinations and commitments, life sits on perpetual hold for things that never draw any nearer than the horizon.  Across the decades, I have seen it happen to most.

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  2 Peter 1:5-8.

As these verses suggest, life remains an accumulating game, especially in Christ.  Because God contemplates this invigorating and rewarding crescendo, there must exist right now some minimum service and activity in the faith beneath which we refuse ever to fall.  Without a reliable minimum followed by the “increasing measure” referenced above, hopes and dreams ultimately just die and blow away as shriveled tumbleweeds.

Time will get away.  Already, people sense it swiftly passing them by.  Since we’ll always be blindsided and inundated with more and more to handle, without a productive meantime, even decades will slip past the radar.  Without determined and self-disciplined intervention, we simply slide to the sidelines, out of years like everyone else.  Whether we like it or not, productivity counts with God and with man, and appropriately so.  Just getting through life has never been the goal of life according to the Author of life.  Short-term and long-term, expectations run much higher, grander, and richer than that.

The online preached message, “End Game Sync” and the unpublished, available-upon-request message “Shooting Stars,” set out ambitious itineraries and limitless skies for lives in the truth.  But, amid the excitement, what shall we do and be in the meantime?  Let us decide, resolve, and confess that prerequisite portion today (even while we work hard toward our fulfilling tomorrows).  Mere words, moans, and groans offer no substitute for this call of the immediate hour.  And without an acceptable meantime, it’s hard to imagine God favoring any fancy eventuality.