I was scrounging around the house yesterday, looking for a highlighter when I came across this old 2 3/4″ x 4″ calendar booklet I used in 1990. I looked through some of my appointments and as I did I thought about other calendar booklets I’ve maintained: my running log calendar, and my cycling log calendar, and my tennis calendar, and my hang gliding log calendar. It struck me that I’ll be held accountable for all that time logged into all of those calendars.

Imagine with me that you’re before Christ, the moment after you die. He breaks out your calendar book, or your Google Calendar, or Outlook Calendar, or whatever, and starts to page through it.

“So, I see you watched quite a bit of TV, you played softball, you followed a few blogs… looks like you did very well at World of Warcraft…”

The realization that sinks in is that there’s no way to go back! Looking through my own 1990 calendar made me wish that I’d spent my time differently. It made me wish that I’d devoted myself more to my relationship with Christ and with the people around me — investments that last, investments that are eternal. But I can’t. 1990 is gone forever.

Life is short. I spoke with a friend today who has only a few more years to live. Even if you’re not battling a terminal disease, the fact is, life is terminal. It flies by and before you know it, you find yourself wishing you had spent your time differently.

1990 is gone forever but you and I can still live differently, from this point in time forward. I can live with Christ in mind, you can draw closer to God. We can live lives that love God better.

You can’t go back but you can go forward, making the most of every opportunity, living your life for Him.

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15-16