Does age matter?

COVID-19 has taught us a lot of things about life. One thing we’ve learned is that age is not a factor when we need to reach out and help other people. (Read Job 12:12; 32: 6-10.) Here are four quick examples:

Cavanaugh Bell is a first-grader in Maryland. He heard about the coronavirus, and he started thinking about what he could do. He had $600 in savings. He asked his mom to go shopping with him. He bought cartloads of hand sanitizer, snacks, cleaning supplies, and toilet paper. He made 65 care packages.

Cavanaugh then went to his grandmother’s senior living community and passed them out. He observed all the social distancing guidelines. He wore gloves and a mask and kept his distance. He said, “I like giving back. That’s my passion.”  How passionate are you about giving back?  

10-year-old Chelsea Phaire was quarantined at home when she decided to use her time wisely to find a way to turn a tough situation into a terrific solution. She started Chelsea’s Charity. She sends out art kits to kids in homeless shelters and foster care facilities. In the past three months, this first-grader from Danbury, CT, has shipped more than 1,500 packages containing coloring books, crayons, markers, and other materials.

Chelsea says that she hopes her kits will give other children something creative and fun to do when they’re feeling down. She said, “Whether I’m happy or sad, art is always there for me.” God has something there for you. Are you willing to see it, use it, and make somebody else’s life better?

Meet Anna Adcox and her sister, Francis Trimble. They live in Dadeville, Alabama. They are 95 and 87 years old respectively. They are very productive. They spend their mornings working in their garden, and in the afternoon, they sew dresses and shorts for children around the world. These two ladies have finished about 7,000 dresses!

You’ll never hear Anna and Francis saying, “I’m too old, I can’t do that, I don’t know how.” They are continually learning, serving, and making a difference in the world. Several thousand boys and girls are glad they didn’t know how old they were!

Tom Moore is a 99-year-old World War II veteran who wanted to do something for Britain’s National Health Service. He decided to walk 10 laps around his garden every day and complete 100 laps by his 100^th birthday on April 30,2020. His goal was to raise $1,000. Tom’s 16-year-old grandson, Benji, shared his vision on social media. Donations started pouring in. I saw the TV clip of him walking his laps with his walker and several British Military officers saluting him. He raised over $36,000,000!

In July, Queen Elizabeth II used the royal sword to bestow knighthood upon Tom Moore. At 100 years old, he did ask if he could remain standing during the ceremony, saying, “If I kneel down, I may never get up again.”

If your age is between Cavanaugh and Tom – you’re the right age to make a difference!

What is your TQ-Team IQ?

Mr. Smith Has Left The Building

Even Mr. Smith found it impossible to function honestly in Washington.

Just Do It

What Time Is It?

By Dr. John Ed Mathison
Executive Director
John Ed Mathison Leadership Ministries

Someone has put together the following scenario.  What if you had an account at a bank that would credit your account each morning with $86,400?  It would not carry over a balance to the next day because it deletes whatever part of the balance you didn’t use that day.  I expect we all would try to draw out every cent before the sun set.

There is such a bank – it is called TIME.  Each morning it gives you 86,400 seconds.  Each night it writes off everything that you did not invest for a good purpose.  It never carries a balance.  It allows no overdraft.  Each day it opens a new account for you.You can’t borrow from yesterday’s account.  You can’t put aside a little of that time for tomorrow’s account.  You have to live on today’s deposits.  That makes it awfully important to invest wisely how we spend every second.

We invest in a lot of scientific research on keeping time accurately.  It was just released in April 2015, that we have a new atomic clock that is so accurate that it will not gain or lose one second in the next 15 billion years!  Now that is accurate!  No worry about correct time.  The important thing is how well do we use our time, even if we might today be keeping it inaccurately.

I am not good with technology.  Every six months we have to change our clocks involving Daylight Savings Time.  I never can remember how to change the clock in my car.  My brother George has the same challenge.  He told me not to worry about it because he said, “John Ed, at least, your clock in your car will be accurate six months out of the year.”How we use each second is oftentimes the difference in doing something significant, or missing out.

Sometimes it is the difference in finishing first or second.  Alabama is famous in the NASCAR world for the running of the Talladega 500.  That is big in our state.  Do you realize how close those races are?  They drive those cars for 500 miles, and the difference in first and second place is less than one second.

In 2011, the margin of victory for Jimmie Johnson at Talladega was .002 seconds.  Now a second is very short.  This is not a tenth of a second, nor a hundredth of a second, but one thousandth of a second.  That is a close margin. In 2010, Kevin Harvick finished first by a margin of .011.  That is less than a tenth of a second.  In 2002, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won in .060.

Time is valuable.  You have as much time today as anybody else.  Don’t waste it or use it unwisely today. Time is a real treasure you have. Yesterday is history.  Tomorrow is a mystery.  Today is a gift.  That is why it is called “the Present.”

Some phrases we use are “killing time” – “spending time” – “passing time.”  I think the best phrase could be “investing time.”  Ephesians 5:15 says, “Be careful how you live, not as unwise people but as wise making the most of time.”

What time is it?  It’s time to be wise with our time!

John Ed’s blog posts appear each week in For His Glory.
Contact: JAM Executive Suite 4,4131 Carmichael Road, Montgomery, AL 36106 Phone: 334-270-2149 Email:info@johnedmathison.org