Everything, and Everyone, Has An Expiration Date

This morning I attended a funeral for one of the employees of our mortgage company, Mike McPhee. I only knew Mike for a short period of time, but during that time Mike always impressed me. He was hard working, organized, positive, helpful and always had a smile on his face. He was built well, in great shape and lived a clean life. Maybe that is why it was so difficult to understand how someone like Mike, could leave work on Friday, go skiing on the weekend, and be dead six days later from a heart attack. It just didn’t make sense… While sitting at the funeral this morning, I started to think about all those who have gone before me. Not once did God call me up in advance and say “Hey Bill, just so you know, someone close to you is going to die tonight at 11:52 p.m. just thought that I would give you a heads up”. God doesn’t work that way. When my grandparents died I had no prior knowledge of the exact date or time. When my little sister Mary Ann passed away in her sleep, no one knew the night before that she wasn’t going to wake up the next morning. When my ex wife Sara died, I guarantee you that the kids and I never saw it coming. I have friends who have lost loved ones to cancer and knew that the end was near, but never once got that call from God with the time and date that it was going to happen. Someone once told me that everyone, and everything, have an expiration date on them. Food, cars, business partnerships, friendships, relationships and us. It made me think about how when people attend funerals, they always wish that they could have known what was about to happen. They wish that they knew the expiration date of the person, or that God would have sent them a text with what was about to happen. They wish that they could have said those things that they never quite got around to saying. It also made me think about those closest to me that I take for granted. I assume that I will see them tomorrow, or next week, or next month. Mikes family assumed that the day he went skiing, my parents did the night that they put Mary Ann in bed, and my kids did the last time they saw their mom.rnSo it begs the question, why do we all believe that God is going to call us, text us, or email us when he is ready to take a loved one up to heaven? He’s not! God is the only one that knows when our expiration date arrives. Not telling your loved ones today how much they mean to you, is like grabbing a carton of milk out of the refrigerator, taking a drink only to realize that it has expired. You only get a sour taste in your mouth from the experience. I think that today is the perfect day to get any future sour tastes out of your mouth. Why not call, text, email or go see the people that not only mean the most to you, but those who you would miss if they they were gone tonight. There is a saying that goes like this “You never get a second chance to make a first impression“. Why not reach out today and let everyone know, that they have made an impression on you. As much as we don’t like to talk about it, you may not get a second chance to make that first impression.