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A clock with a broken hand... That would describe my life since 8:30am on November 5, 2019. If my calculations are correct, 1592 days, 13 hours and 56 minutes have passed. Looking at that number, at a glance, it seems to be a massive amount of time that has passed, yet it is a disappearing drop in a bucket of time. I say a bucket because God created time for our sake as one of many ways to recognize Him. God who has no beginning and no end. Imagine with me the times in your past where you have said, "Time has gone by so fast," or, "Where has the time gone?" or, "It just feels like this is taking forever!" There are so many more, but you get the point. Time is a matter of perspective and time on November 5, 2019 stood still for me... well, after my feet went out from under me, sailed behind me as I bounced my forehead off my vehicle, tore up my shoulder to brace myself, and bounced the left side of my head off of a pile of ice. Did you know that ice is harder than concrete? Look it up! I couldn't believe it either! Time stood still as I gathered my wits after a block of time I lost as to how long I lay there to when I was standing up in utter shock to what just took place. The shock turned to instant pain. I could hear someone trying to ask me questions... I think I answered, but I wasn't sure. Time was moving, my feet were moving, and I was heading to my office. I lost track of time at that point and found myself sitting in my office not sure of how I got there. I remember thinking to myself at some point, "Did that just happen?" It wasn't long til the man who had the office next to me poked his head in my door chuckling. I looked up and smiled and asked him, "What's so funny, Doug?" He asked me, "Do you remember what I asked you outside just a few minutes ago?" I looked at him puzzled and asked, "Was that you trying to ask me questions? He chuckled again and said, "I asked if you fell and you said, I think so, and then I asked if you are alright." I told Doug I didn't remember. Then he really started to chuckle louder and said, "Well, that's not all you said to me, Dan" and, with a smile on his face he said I told him to "Shut the hell up." I was mortified!!! We had a good laugh, through the pain, headache, dizziness, and nausea. This marked the beginning of a new timestamp in my life from God. My perspective quickly changed as it was apparent that I had suffered a traumatic brain injury and life was about to move in a dramatic shift. I was like a broken clock... Time kept ticking, but the hands refused to move, leaving me suspended in a moment that wouldn't let go. At this point of life, I was living in my God ordained purpose, traveling at a breakneck speed that most people would avoid. Gretchen and I had been serving through Apprentice Ministries around the world in 7 countries full time for many years when God decided to make a change. Side note, almost 19 months, during COVID, I spent as a human vegetable where Gretchen was caring for me through, PTSD, anxiety, panic attacks, hyper intense feelings, all while finishing my doctoral dissertation and teaching classes as a professor. Not to mention, she was my editor! None of that would have been possible without my blessing, my gift of mercy and grace, Gretchen. Why the long onramp to my point? Trust me, there is a point! The point? God is the creator of time. God lives outside of time. God functions in the boundaries of time for our sake. God proves his existence in time. As many of you hear me say all the time, God puts the right people in the right place and at the right time to prove his love is a miracle and his plan is perfect. God as the creator of time proves that what you or I may not understand or dislike in a situation, He is in control. I did not understand why after just six months into living in Canada my head injury would take place, especially when I was so very careful that day! I lost perspective of time and could only see what was affecting me... a selfish view of the time given to me by God. It brings me to this final point. God can do whatever he wants with my time. If he created EVERYTHING, then he has greater understanding than my limited perspective. He has told us over and over again through every generation and then he preserved it in writing because he knew we would struggle. So, here are some verses of perspective to help you on your "timeline" in this life... and, if you are in a timeline without Jesus, your final breath will open to an eternal timeline separated from the God who made you and loves you. If you have found yourself feeling like me, where time keeps ticking, but the hands refuse to move, leaving you suspended in a moment that won’t let go, then, you've come to the right place! We have all been there so let me tell you about what God has done for me... He is waiting to do the same thing for you. Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." Psalm 27:14 "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." Galatians 4:4 "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son." 2 Peter 3:8-9 "But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent." Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Deuteronomy 31:8 “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” Proverbs 16:9 "In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps." Ecclesiastes 3:1 "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens." Proverbs 27:1 "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring." Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." God sees you. God knows your situation. God knows what you need. But remember, he is not our cosmic vending machine where we control what we want from him. We find ourselves in any given situation one of three ways. One, by our own poor choices, two, by the unfolding choices of others, or three, by God's hand. Be honest with yourself about where you are and then begin trusting in the miraculous love and perfect plan that can only come from God. His love never fails and never gives up on us... (fb)