By Bobby Buffington

A few months ago I read a news story of a pastor from Texas who was giving a eulogy. He started talking to the congregation, like many pastors do at a funeral, about how none of us know the hour, day or minute that we will die. He continued that we need to prepare for what comes after, because it could be coming any minute. He took a brief pause, and fell over, dead of a heart attack. Proving his point in a very dramatic way.

Over the past few months I have had the misfortune of attending multiple funerals for close family members. Outside of the pain of loss that comes with such events, I’ve also been struggling a lot with the brevity of my own life. Like the pastor from Texas, I can’t even have full certainty that Jesus would “call me home” before I finish writing these words.

As I’ve adapted that mindset sitting here in front of my computer, it’s changed the way I’m writing, and it should change the way we live. I am putting so much more thought into every sentence, knowing it theoretically could be my last. What if I loved people with that mindset? What if every time I talked to my mom, dad or friends on the phone I realized it could be my last chance to talk to them?

More importantly I think about the opportunity to be a part of what God is doing in the world. This chapter in Rick Warren's devotional book brought me back to an illustration we looked at from Francis Chan a few summers ago. He pulled out a very long rope with a tiny red mark on the end. He then told us that the red mark represented our lives, while the rest of the very long rope, stretched out over the stage, represented eternity.

When I find myself overwhelmed with the temporary nature of my life on earth, I find great comfort in realizing that I can use my time and resources here to share the hope of Christ with others. I can use my tiny little red dot to impact eternity. I pray that God gives you and me many more opportunities to do just that as a part of Green Bay Community Church.

Bobby Buffington is GBCC's high school ministry coordinator