Marc Estes

This year I turn fifty years old and I find myself trying to swallow the idea that I am a half century old. I understand that I have no hair and have a harder time hearing what people might say, but I am still wearing True Religion Jeans and perceive myself to be at least ’semi-cool.’  I also just celebrated my 3oth anniversary with the woman of my dreams and am watching my four grandchildren growing rapidly into these fully active children ready to live life to the fullest. It seems just like yesterday that I was going on my honeymoon or having my first daughter. Where did the time go?  Life just seems to be going by too quick.

In addition, this year has brought some of the most challenging news to my life with my father announcing he has stage 3 lung cancer.  As a pastor, I have been personally involved in helping dozens of loved ones deal with the challenges and tragedy associated with disease and sickness, but when it is your own father, the emotions just seem to go a little deeper. Life also seems to be so fragile and precious. I do regret all those missed opportunities to talk with my dad and am committed to cherishing every breath that comes from his lips during this last days.

Through it all, 2010 has been a time where I am grappling with the importance of life and making the most of every moment.  Life itself is so precious. Life is short and life is very fragile.  It is amazing how quickly we assume that we will be here for another few decades, yet there is no guarantee we will make it through tomorrow.  Yet, we will continue to give our time and energy to things that have the least importance in our lives.

In one year, the average American will read or complete 3,000 notices and forms, read 100 newspapers and 36 magazines, watch 2,463 hours of television, listen to 730 hours of radio, buy 20 CDs or cassettes, talk on the telephone almost 61 hours, and read 3 books.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross once said, “It is only when we truly understand that we have a limited time on earth that we’ll live each day to the fullest.”  

In Psalm 90:12, Moses said, “Teach us to number our days . . .” Leslie Weatherhead, who pastored the City Temple in London for twenty five years, wrote a book entitled Time for God. In this book, Weatherhead helps us to number our days by mathematically calculating a “one-day lifetime” for a person living an average life span. (His calculations are actually for only the waking hours of 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.).

• If you’re fifteen years old, it is 10:25 a.m..
• If you are 20, it’s 11:34 a.m.
• If you’re 25, the time is 12:42 p.m.
• It’s 1:51 p.m. for a 30-year-old.
•  At 35 it’s 3:00 p.m.
• If you are 40, it is 4:00 p.m.
• At 45 the clock reads 5:16 p.m.
• For a person of 50, it’s 6:25 p.m.
• It’s 7:34 p.m. for those at 55.
• A 60-year-old is looking at 8:42 p.m.
•  Retiring at 65 means it’s 9:51 p.m.
• And if you’re 70, it is 11:00 p.m.

Look at the clock and live each day to the fullest! Maybe its time that you recognize just how precious life is and give your life to those things that matter most. Don’t let life pass you by, treat life as the most precious gift you could receive.

Growing up, I remember driving down the road in my parent’s 1968 dark green Ford station wagon listening to them sing a popular song by Simon and Garfunkel, “Feeling Groovy (59th St. Bridge Song).” One phrase that still rings in my ears is, “Slow down you move to fast, you got to make the morning last, just kickin’ down the cobblestones, looking for fun and feeling groovy!”

This Utopian idea of life seems so distant from reality. Life is moving at a rapid pace and there never seems to be enough time to give attention to those things that are most important. The tyranny of the urgent robs us of giving our lives to what matters most. Maybe we should start a, “Feeling Groovy” campaign and live life on purpose!

I just received an email from a good friend, Carl Probyn, which reminded me again to, “slow down, because I live to fast!” Here it is for your pleasure.

“Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven’t thought about it, don’t have it on their schedule, didn’t know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine. I got to thinking one day about all those people on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back.  From then on, I’ve tried to be a little more flexible.

How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn’t suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed?  Does the word ‘refrigeration’ mean nothing to you? How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched ‘Jeopardy’ on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said , ‘How about going to lunch in a half hour?’ She would gas up and stammer, ‘I can’t.  I have clothes on the line.  My hair is dirty.  I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain’  And my personal favorite:  ‘It’s Monday.’ She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.

Because Americans cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches..  We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!

We’ll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained.  We’ll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet.  We’ll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older.  The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer.  One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of ‘I’m going to,’ ‘I plan on,’ and ‘Someday, when things are settled down a bit.’

When anyone calls my ’seize the moment’ friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips.  She keeps an open mind on new ideas.  Her enthusiasm for life is contagious.  You talk with her for five minutes, and you’re ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.

My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years..  I love ice cream.  It’s just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process.  The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker.  If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.

Now..go on and have a nice day.  Do something you WANT to…not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say?   And why are you waiting?

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground?  Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night?  Do you run through each day on the fly?  When you ask ‘How are you?’  Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head?  Ever told your child, ‘We’ll do it tomorrow.’ And in your haste, not see his sorrow?  Ever lost touch?  Let a good friendship die?  Just call to say ‘Hi’?

When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift….Thrown away… Life is not a race. Take it slower.  Hear the music before the song is over.. (added mine) ‘Life is fun and I’m feeling groovy!’”

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I wanted to share with you some amazing stories of people who changed the course of history. Listen closely and try to pull out the common thread in each story.

Story One: In 1962, four nervous young musicians played their first record audition for the executives of the Decca Recording company. The executives were not impressed. While turning down the British rock group called the “Beatles” one executive said, “we don’t like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out.”¹

Story Two: A Six year old boy was sent home from school one day with a note from his teacher suggesting that he be taken out of school, as he was “too stupid to learn.” He lost most of his hearing by the age of eight but Thomas Edison went on to invent the electric light, phonograph, microphones, mimeograph, fluoroscope, movies and over a hundred other useful inventions.

Story Three:In 1870 a Bishop in a local church stood and made this statement. “The millennium is at hand. Man has invented everything that can be invented. He has done all, he can do.” A man in the congregation said a great invention would take place within the next 50 years and the bishop asked, “What kind?” The man replied, “I think man will learn how to fly.” The bishop said, “That is blasphemy. Don’t you know that flying was reserved for angels?” the bishop was, Milton Wright, the father of Orville and Wilbur.

Story Four: In 1927, while attending the John Murray Anderson Drama School, a little red-headed lady received some instruction from the head instructor, “Try any other profession..any other!” Lucille Ball did not take his advice and became one of the great actresses of all times. 

The greatest common thread through these stories is “choices made today shape tomorrow’s future!” They all could have “gone with the flow”, and taken the easy and convenient road, but made a decision that changed their lives forever.

If  we were to look back at our own lives, we could all quickly think of some significant decisions we made that made us what we are today. Some have been great choices, while others have been bad choices. In either case, we lived out the consequences or rewards of those choices. The choices you make today will shape tomorrow’s reality.

Most people live their entire lives without ever discovering who they really are and what they were created to be. In this post I want to help you to understand how God has created you and give you seven key assessment tests that you can take on your own. These are found on my Resources page under the heading, “Free Self Assessment Tests.” 

God has given you certain gifts, talents, and abilities. He has placed deep within your heart certain passions for people, issues, and areas of ministry. He has allowed experiences in life to shape your character, perspective, and worldview. He has also given you the opportunity to grow and mature in Christ, in hopes that you might maximize the time you have been given for kingdom purposes. All of these components combined are the byproduct of how God made you.

We will discuss seven major components briefly below. They are; passions, talents and abilities, personal makeup, spiritual gifts, life-shaping experiences, spiritual maturity and availability. These individual components are different in every individual. Understanding these seven components and incorporating them into everyday life are critical to living successful lives of purpose. These components come from three different sources: God, life’s experiences, and our own personal choices and disciplines.

God-Shaping Factors

There are four main components to how God made you that come directly from Him and are woven into the fabric of your being:

1. Passions
2. Talents and abilities
3. Personal makeup
4. Spiritual gifts

Life-Shaping Experiences

God also allows trials, tribulations, and tragedies to come our way as a means to help build character. The Bible is filled with great men and women who faced unbelievable life-shaping experiences that are recorded in the Bible for generations to come. For some, life-shaping experiences allowed them to adjust something that was amiss in their life, or even to remove sinful habits.

Life-shaping experiences are often allowed by God (however, they are not always initiated by Him) to prepare and shape us for our purpose. “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed” (1 Pet. 4:12–13, TNIV).

Personal Choices and Disciplines

The level of our hunger and pursuit for spiritual things will determine the level of spiritual health, growth, and maturity. That’s why the writer of Hebrews admonished those who were not living up to their full potential in Christ with these words: “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!” (Heb. 5:12, TNIV).

In addition, our willingness to be used by God will ultimately determine the outcome of our lives. We can have all the God-given potential and gifting needed but still fail as a result of not being available. Psalm 39:4–5 should be our mindset toward being available for Him: “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath” (TNIV).

You are a child of God, created in His image, with certain characteristics that are yours alone. God knows your frame; He sees every part of your makeup and believes in your ability to measure up to the big plans He has for you. Regardless of your past—whether you were a Korean War orphan or the son of an aeronautical engineer—or even your present circumstance, you have a purpose to fulfill, and your uniqueness makes you the only one qualified to do so. You playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking back so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. You were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; unfathomably, it is in everyone.

You can read more in detail by ordering my book, What Now.

There are three shocking realities that have moved into a place of acceptance in our society today. Each of these have a profound affect on the culture in which we live, and many of us don’t fully understand the ramifications of such atrocities:

• We can have Morality without Religion
• Whatever is Legal is Moral 
• Morality Cannot Be Legislated

Gene Edward Veith states in His book, ‘Post Modern Times’, “While people have always committed sins, they at least acknowledged these were sins. A century ago a person may have committed adultery flagrantly and in defiance of God and man, but he would have admitted that what he was doing was a sin. What we have today is not only immoral behavior, but a loss of moral criteria… We face not only a moral collapse but a collapse of meaning…”

 In the book, ‘Rebirth of America’ is a paralyzing statement is made. It reads as follows, “Forgetting to acknowledge ‘the Power that mad and preserved us a nation,’ her citizens began to congratulate themselves on their own achievements, to celebrate man, while relegating God to the back seat… Wallowing in materialism self-centeredness and pride, many Americans decided that they really did not need God after all. Some began to taper with God’s absolute standards, and to tolerate what they would never have allowed before, in their own lives or in society around them. That which God says is never right could be sometimes right, depending on the situation… America once legislated against those things that God said to be wrong. But gradually we began to tolerate, then accept, then condone openly, and even promote, that which was once unthinkable. The perversion and degradation that once made us blush are now flaunted before the eyes of a nation that was conceived in the fear of God. It happened little by little, right before our eyes, not because someone forced it on us, but seemingly because we did not care. We just didn’t care…”

So we change the titles that God labeled as sin to something more appealing:        

• Sin as rebellion towards God  to Personal Preference or Choice
• Drunkenness to Adult Entertainment or at best a Social Disease
• Perversion to Adult Movies
• Sodomy to Alternate Lifestyle
• Immorality to a New Morality

We can debate the terms and definitions all we want but we can’t argue or deny their effect.

• Crime now costs taxpayer $2 Billion a year
• Serious crime is committed every 3 seconds
• Someone is robbed every 83 seconds
• Someone is murdered every 27 minutes
• Suicide is the second largest killer of teenagers.
• One of every three children under age of Eighteen have been, or will be, sexually molested.
• 100,000 handguns are taken to schools every day.

What is the Answer?

We must once again be open to analyze how we define our morals and values and be willing to lovingly adjust those that seem to be the reason we have gotten so far off track! Change in a nation starts with change in you. We can’t change a nation until we first change ourselves. We must once again recognize sin for what it is and call it for what it actually is and not be embarrassed to make the personal changes that are necessary as well as stand for righteousness in a land that has lost its focus.

Is there any scientific way of determining the Bible’s Reliability? The answer is a resounding “Yes!” There is a mathematical law in science that can help us find out. It is called “The law of Compound Probabilities.” It is one of the most profound proofs of the Bible’s divine accuracy and inspiration. It is defined as:

“The Law of Compound Probabilities I a mathematical law which is used to calculate the probability of a specific set of conditions, requirements, or qualifications being fulfilled… it’s a way of figuring the odds.” It is commonly used in the market place to determine financial projections, in weather forecasting, in figuring insurance tables, professional athletics, and in political campaigning. ¹

Peter W. Stoner, the Chairman of the Mathematics and Astronomy Department at Pasadena City College and Chairman of the Science Division of Westmont College from 1953-57 applied the Law of Compound Probabilities to the area of prophetic fulfillment. He did so to determine the odds of a certain prescribed number of biblical prophecies relating to Christ being fulfilled.  Data compiled over a ten-year period was then gathered, with the following staggering results: ¹

Odds of Fulfillment of Eight Prophecies in Perfect Detail and Order: Equals 10¹⁷   

This is a ten with seventeen zeros following. It is compared to state of Texas being filled with Silver Dollars two feet deep. Mark one with a red mark, blind fold someone, and give them one chance to find marked silver dollar on first try. This is odds of 10^17.

Odds of Fulfillment of Sixteen Prophecies in Perfect Detail and Order: Equals 10⁴⁵

He calculated that odds to be compared to the following scenario. The sun is 93 million miles from earth; however, if you had this many silver dollars, you could build a stellar ball so enormous that is would extend 30 times farther out than the sun. Again, mark one, get in your stellar space shuttle, blindfolded, and just choose one, and this would be the chances of fulfilling sixteen prophecies.

Odds of Fulfillment of Forty-Eight Prophecies in Perfect Detail and Order: Equals 10¹⁵⁷

The computers began to overload and burn out at this point and freeze up. This number is so astronomical and beyond human comprehension that there is no name for it! Let use the smallest thing known to man, a electron, which is only 2.5 X 10¹⁵ quintillionth of an inch long. If you devoted yourself to counting just a single file of electrons one-inch long, you would have to count 250 per minute, day and night, for 19 million years! In a cubic inch you would then multiply that cubed! 19 million years times 19 million years times 19 million years.  It has been said that there are more electrons in a grain of sand than all the leaves on all the trees in the world.

However if you had 1 X 10¹⁵⁷ electrons to work with, you could make a cosmic all of electrons so large it would be as big as our known universe. In fact, you would have so many electrons that if there was some way to mass produce these balls, you could make them at a rate of 500 a minute, day and night, for 6 billion years, 10¹⁰ times over!  NOW…. Mark one of these electrons and blindfold yourself and try to find it on your first try, and these are the odds of fulfilling forty-eight prophecies in exact order. 

JESUS FULFILLED 332 AND THEY ARE RECORDED IN EXACT PERFECT ORDER AND DETAIL IN THE BIBLE!!!! ¹

I say all of that to bring us to the reality, that the Bible has some validity. 

Looking for a healthy edge? You may find it in the Church. According to American Health, “Godlessness may be harmful to your health.” This claim was based on a recent study from Purdue University which involved 1,473 Americans similar in age, income, and education. Kenneth Ferraro, an associate professor of sociology, compared those who regularly participate in religious activities with those who don’t. He found that those who don’t regularly participate in religious activities were twice as likely to report health problems. Ferraro said, “We found that religion was almost as great an influence on health as age and social class.”

This generation is in pursuit of finding authenticity. They are crying out for the “real thing” yet, may have a challenge in defining what the “real thing” actually is.  Many today do not have an issue with religion itself, but those who claim to know the truth and live a lifestyle that is contrary to their beliefs.  Over 80% of unchurched people today say that Christians are hypocritical. Although there are many today that do model the life of a true Christ follower, there are still millions that don’t.  If we are going to really bring a generation to God, we show them what real truth is and what it looks like through the daliy life of one who follows God.

As a Christian, one of our highest priorities must be to live a spiritually authentic life.  Simply stated, live what you believe! Devoting yourself to reading the Word daily and praying passionately are noble goals, but useless if we don’t live those truths out in our daily lives.  Having the intention to help someone in need and actually following through are two extreme opposites.  Our behavior must match our beliefs.

John Burke, in his book, “No Perfect People Allowed” states, “Authenticity is hard work. It always works from the inside out. It begins with your inner life being authentic first with God.  It manifests itself in personal vulnerability before others as an intimate connection with God… This opens for others a view into an authentic spiritual life of a real human – not a religious sales person.”

Why not partner with me in starting an “Authenticity Revolution.” Let’s take the truth that we know, apply it to our lives and take it to the streets.

In today’s society, many measure success by how far you have climbed up the ladder of success. Many have attempted to find fulfillment in life through the home they live in, the cars they drive, the toys they possess, and the number of people that answer them at the office. For many, the desired end result of peace, happiness and fulfillment is often replaced with great disappointment and emptiness.

From God’s perspective (which by they way, should be ours, since He knows a little more than we do), He measures success not by what you gain, but what you lose, by giving of  yourself, your time, your resources and energy for the sake of others. Serving with the right motive and for the right purpose releases a sense of acceptance, belonging and significance, unlike any other human act.  It is no wonder I cry everytime I watch “Extreme Home Makeover.”  I challenge you to click the link and just watch for a few minutes to see if you are inspired and compelled to serve!

Jesus, as the Master Servant, understood the principles of serving and knew that these principles operating in the life of an individual would  bring the true joy and fulfillment that all desire to have in their  lives. This is His desire for you!  Here is my definition of a servant-hearted person:

 ”One who willingly gives up their own rights and interests, and dedicates their time, resources and energy for the benefit of meeting the needs of others.”

Write this down and put it on your dashboard, your desk or the mirror in your bathroom. Look at it everyday and take steps to live it out.  You will find you will have much more satisfaction and fulfillment as a person when you stop living for yourself and start living for others.

Here are a few quotes that will make you think:

“Servanthood is not difficult to define; it is only difficult to achieve.” – John Maxwell -

“The best way to find out whether or not you really have a servant’s heart is to see what your reaction is when somebody treats you like one.” – Elizabeth Elliot -

“The measure of a man is not how many servants he has, but how many men he serves.” – D. L. Moody -

The concept of being individually created and chosen by God is a basic biblical concept. We learned it as children in Sunday school—“red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight”—and we solidly believed it because, at that point, we hadn’t learned the perceived “value” of being the same as everyone else. As children not yet influenced by commercialism or the status quo, we accepted our uniqueness.

And then we grew up.

As adults, it’s easy to take the devil’s bait, comparing ourselves to what we see in popular culture, trying to become something else and therefore attaching value to an identity that was never meant to be ours in the first place. And when we learn that we can’t adequately imitate that identity, our self-worth plunges and the things that stood in the way of achieving that identity become perceived faults to overcome. But God never intended for us to feel that way.

Embracing the fact that God, the Creator of the universe, had you mapped out on the drawing board before time began can be a hard pill to swallow in light of how we often view ourselves. Lucky you … despite your faults (the perceived ones and the real ones), the idea that God chose you and created you for His purpose may be beyond your human comprehension, but it’s entirely true!

How do you really feel about yourself? How do you think God feels about you? At your core, do you really believe that God cares for you? Do you really embrace the fact that you are important to Him and His purpose?

Fortunately, I have developed a completely different view of myself through the eyes of my heavenly Father. God’s Word, in partnership with the Holy Spirit, has reshaped my self-worth and my potential for greatness to reflect how God sees me—not the way I think others see me or the way I saw myself previously. I have learned the hard way that how I see myself and how I feel about myself have a vast impact on how far I’ll go in life. Therefore, I choose to believe that I am one of God’s chosen and that He created me specifically this way. He cares for me and thinks I am fantastically unique.