Pressing on .................... Parables 197

December 27, 1989

When Simon, my editor, told me this issue would be a year-end wrap-up, the first thought that entered my mind was a rather long list of unfinished projects that I’d certainly like to wrap up. However, that wasn’t what he had in mind. “Review highlights,” he said.

Later that day, while wrapping up Christmas gifts, the idea of year-end wrap-up again came to mind. Again, I thought of the unfinished but also some of the accomplishments of 1989. As those encouraged me, I began to think about what I would like to wrap up in 1990. But then there’s that unfinished list; what should be done with it?

Everyone knows what it’s like to end a year or a decade with a handful of “I wish I had’s”. People we wanted to visit... but they left following an Allied moving van; books we wanted to read... but the library retired their last copy; children we wanted to play hopscotch with... but suddenly they were too busy buying grad rings and planning classes at U of A. Some items on my “to-do” list will never be wrapped up.

Paul the Apostle may have felt the same way. He was doing a wrap-up of sorts concerning his goal of becoming more like Jesus Christ. (From personal experience, I know how unfinished that goal always feels.) He said, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on... forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal...”

His words translate into good advice at wrap-up time: 1] He knew where he was, 2] realized some things were accomplished and 3] some things were not. 4] Then he put the “I wish I had’s” behind him and pressed on. So I decided to wrap up 1989 following his advice. Here’s my wrap-up list:

PHYSICAL WRAP-UP: Evaluation: Not too bad but I’ll probably eat too much over Christmas.
Accomplishments: 4 miles on the bike or 45 minutes on shank’s mare 5 times a week.
Leftovers: Five stubborn pounds that I don’t want left in front or behind me.
Pressing On: A long look in a full-length mirror right after Christmas (agreed, it’s a distasteful suggestion) then do something about it.

MENTAL WRAP-UP: Evaluation: Memory loss and lethargy hopefully related to over-booking my brain, not age; great relief that there is a spelling checker in my word processor because by the time I get down Webster’s, I can’t remember the word I was going to look up.
Accomplishments: High marks in a college credit course.
Leftovers: One half-written short story, a dozen magazine articles that should be sent out, a host of crossword puzzles I got tired of or didn’t have a clue regarding the answers.
Pressing on: Learn how to use WORD PERFECT 5.0 in 1990, with passing expertise.

SOCIAL WRAP-UP: Evaluation: Too many friends still apologize for “bothering” me when they call.
Accomplishments: Deeper friendships with more people.
Leftovers: Owe letters to some, calls to a few and visits to one or two.
Pressing On: Continue convincing friends they are more important than most anything I might be doing at the time they think they are “interrupting” me.

SPIRITUAL WRAP-UP: Evaluation: I’m still God’s child, despite my failures and foibles.
Accomplishments: By God’s grace, overcame two bad habits and began several good ones.
Leftovers: The page isn’t large enough.
Pressing One: Day by day responding to whatever the Lord shows me I must do, making corresponding plans and trusting Him to pull it off.

The future stretches before us like blank pages of a notebook. Whether we add in the unfinished or start with some fresh new goals, the old decade ends and God gives us a brand new one. Here’s to wrapping up by leaving the past with Him and beginning the next year, or month, or even the next week, day or hour, with a decision to press on to greater Christ-likeness.

High School burns ............................. Parables 012

We walked through the halls and visited some of the classrooms Monday night. By Wednesday morning, some of those halls and some of those classrooms were destroyed. The staff, shocked and saddened, are hurting from the loss of many years work. Present and former students reflect on their memories. Some view the charred remains with a large lump in their throat. Others have mixed feelings, and some respond positively, with hope for a new, improved facility.
 
My youngsters attended Fort Saskatchewan High School such a short time, so when the news came on the radio, my mind soon moved from personal distress to the trauma of loss by fire. I tried to feel what others must be feeling. For example, how would I react if my study burned, and I lost 15 years of written work, as some teachers have this week?
 
Those who experience loss by fire say that it puts life and possessions somewhat into perspective, at least for a time. Desiring a long-range view, I turned to a passage in 1 Corinthians 3, verses 10-15. This refers to the judgment seat of Christ. There, the fire of God will test the works of Christians, those people with Jesus Christ at the foundation of their lives. This fire determines rewards, however, and is not a fire of judgment. His flame will be used to burn out the useless and vain, and even though the Christians will “be saved, yet so as by fire,” all their works will not survive.
 
I’ve never personally experienced a fire but reading these verses convinces me that certainly one day I will view some charred ruins. They will be the ashes from the deeds of my life that have had absolutely no eternal value. I can easily identify some of them right now: sin, rebellion, disobedience against God . . .  all highly combustible material. Others are perhaps less obvious, but nonetheless flammable: aimless pursuits, selfish plans, show-off stunts, little and big things that flow out of a motivation to serve and glorify me instead of Christ, my Savior and Lord.
 
The fire in our high school is tragic. Staff and students have lost some valuable things this week: projects, notes, homework, term papers, records, personal possessions, mementos. However, the pain of those loses, even though it is real and very difficult to bear, cannot be compared to the anguish of looking back over an entire lifetime that has been wasted. Someday, pursuits that God calls “wood, hay, and stubble” will go up in flames, to be lost forever.
 
When that fire comes, surely we who are Christians can rejoice that our foundation cannot be destroyed. However, because He gave us that foundation, ought we not be building on it? This week’s fire should prompt us to re-evaluate the architecture of our lives. The bricks should be fireproof deeds of righteousness, cemented together by truth and love, making a building of works that cannot be lost. Hard work and sacrifice are involved in the construction process, but the Lord supplies the needs of His workers, including a clear blueprint, all materials, and strength and courage. When the final building inspection comes, the test of His refining fire, may we have much left standing on our foundation, and few ashes to regret.