It’s happened to just about all of us here in America at one time or another. That nagging feeling of regret when you find yourself under a pile of debt. But you’re a responsible person. So you came to terms with it. Right? And those terms were what you put yourself under to get yourself out from under all that debt. But that’s just money stuff. There’s another debt you can’t dig yourself out from under.
And if you try, you’ll discover it’s too late for regrets of any kind.
This is starting to sound like a life lesson answer to a question you didn’t even ask. And influencers and marketing professionals all say you gotta tell a story or nobody will listen. They say nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care. So, since I care about you and your soul, I’ll share a little story I’ve shared before. And hopefully it’ll help illustrate the point I’m making about when it’s too late for regrets.
When I was a little boy, around four years old, my parents divorced, and my dad took my brother and me to live with my grandparents, his parents. And Grandmother was a Christian woman who took her role as an evangelizer very seriously. She wanted all three of her sons, and all their children, to go to heaven. And she made no bones about it.
Basically, every Sunday we lived with them my grandparents would take us to church. And I still vividly recall that fire and brimstone Baptist atmosphere. The kind where the preacher could and would get loud sometimes. And the kind that, for a preschool little boy like me, seemed to go on for days. With a finish that included the preacher asking if anyone would like to come up and give their heart to Jesus. “With all heads bow and all eyes closed,” was the repeated message each week as the congregation sang that old hymn,
“Just As I Am.”
By the time I was five years old, I started receiving an elbow nudge from my grandmother each week during those altar calls. But being the shy introvert that I was, I never went up there.
However. When I was 13, my grandparents came, from Oklahoma, to visit my dad’s place in Texas. And after they had been there for about a day, Grandmother asked me to come back to my dad’s room because she said she wanted to talk to me. So I went back there with her. And wouldn’t you know, she gave me another Jesus talk. She explained what He could do, and wanted to do, for me. Then she asked if I would like to give my heart to Him and live forever. It sounded good to me. But I didn’t have to go up in front of a bunch of people. So, I said yes.
Grandmother was visibly thrilled. And I was very glad about my decision.
But then she told me something that turned my glow to gloom. She said I had to go tell everyone in the house. And I knew that I was in for it with my stepsister. Because I knew she would make fun of me. Because that was just the kind of thing that she enjoyed. Jumping on my case when I was vulnerable. But I owned up to the responsibility and went out to tell the family members about my salvation. Yes I suffered the stepsister ridicule. But I lived to tell you this story.
So there. I don’t know if it helped you understand anything. Or if it entertained. Or if it bored you to sleep. I only shared it because of how it might help someone avoid trying to pay off eternal debts. Because nobody can do that. And yet eternal debts pile up. And they have to be paid. Thankfully, I decided, at 13, to take Jesus up on his offer to pay off my debts. And one day I’ll go live with Him forever, where I can think Him in person for taking…
Responsibility
I heard my sweet dreams shatter.
Blue skies fell around my feet.
My plans, they just don’t matter.
Big lies and elite deceit.
Same thing throughout the ages.
Same words out of different lips.
False hopes on empty pages,
Crash course with a truth eclipse.
And it all seems helpless, hopeless,
In a world that’s full of brokenhearted.
Reckless, faithless,
From the ones still here and the dear departed.
When was all this madness started?
When we began to flee
From responsibility.
I saw the spotlight lifted. Dark days covered all the hearts.
Don’t know when the whole thing shifted.
Who cares once the damage starts?
I wrote a sad life story. Just words one could soon forget.
Learn from this allegory:
“Too late” hasn’t happened yet. © 2014 TF
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