Too Late.

They told me I was too late. For some reason the stores have started to switch their sale days. It used to be that all the stores started their sales on Saturday. Well, not anymore. I showed up on Friday to get one of the weeks sale items and what do you know, there at the very bottom of the first page in small printing, that only a person with 20/20 vision could read, were those dreaded words, Sale Ends - Thursday.
So, like any red blooded Canadian would do, I walked away. HA! Not this time! I pleaded my case by saying, but you have always started your sales on Saturday. With that domineering stare she said, “Use to, but not anymore.” Then those hollow words came, “Sorry.” Ya, right you’re sorry. So I pushed it some more. Can’t you bend the rules just this one time? I knew it was futile when she looked out over the top of her glasses and stared me down. Then I did the Canadian thing, paid the full price and walked away.
It’s not a good feeling to realize you are too late for the sale, too late for a ticket to a concert, too late to get a good seat or any seat at all. Our lives are filled with these occurrences but if we really think about it, most of them are minor in the whole scheme of things. What’s a few more dollars?
Well, for those in the Drumbo area of Ontario, you are too late. It was my last official service as Pastor of Drumbo Baptist Church. I remember a number of years ago writing about not missing something until it’s gone. Well, sorry to say, I’m gone. Over the last eight years I have met many of you outside regular church functions. You took time to corner me and talk about one article or another you read in this weekly paper. You may have even said, “You know, I should come out one Sunday and here you speak.” Well, unfortunately, you are too late.
Also, this is my last column for the church as well. This one you are reading right now is number 381. Where did the time go? How did I ever get this far and write about so many things? I remember sitting down and writing that first article. It was just like the others found in the paper. We came to church, we sang, we prayed, we listened and we went home. People do want to know what is happening in our churches. But I felt lead to share just a few words. Just like you I felt a need to say something about our struggles in life and how we can call on each other and God to help us through. Not over or under, but through. And so we have journeyed together. And if you have been blessed, encouraged or changed by anything I wrote, feel free to drop me a line, .
It has been my prayer that your reading of this column changed you. As a better writer then I put it, “It is not my desire to bring you to the brook and make you drink but to make you thirsty.” So with this last article I change my hat. Now I will write as your friend.
You are not too late. It is not too late to get to know God or know Him better. It is not too late to recognize that He cares for you. And it is not too late to get close to Him. There is no expiry date printed on your get into heaven free card. I leave you with my life verse, “That I may know Him.” Do you know Him? Just close your eyes. He’s listening. “God, I hope I’m not too late, but I was wondering, why . . .”
Blessings Rob