99 Days

99 days. Our son leaves for college in 99 days. Until very recently, I thought he would leave at the end of August, but now he will leave our home in early June. The loss of 3 months with him has ripped a seam in my heart. I feel an incredible sense of urgency. He doesn’t know how to iron his pants or fry an egg. It will be so cold in Pennsylvania; he will need wool socks and gloves. Does anyone even make a glove big enough to fit his hand? Where do you buy a 3XL-sized glove? Does he know how to make a connection in a large airport? There are important life lessons I haven’t shared with him that I learned the hard way. Does he know how much I love him and how proud I am of him?

He is not the first Nelson to leave the nest. It’s good when they do, but the change is dramatic. The parent/child relationship evolves. I don’t speak to, laugh and cry with, wake up, cook for, get impatient with, celebrate with, hear, smell, see or touch our college age student very much. She’s pretty much an adult now and she needed to move out in order to grow up. I adore her as a grown up, but I miss doing life with her. In 99 days, our son will leave too, and he will begin his greatest adventure so far. There is so much that I want to happen and need him to know in the next 99 days. It’s crunch time and I am riddled with a sense of mounting pressure.

Isn’t it peculiar and even offensive that as someone who claims to love Jesus, I’m not nearly as pressured or anxious about sharing the amazing love of Jesus with the people in my life who don’t know His incredible grace? The greatest adventure of our lives is on the Horizon. Eternity is at hand. Jesus is the only way and He is so wonderful. I am the last one on earth who deserves His grace, but He has poured it out on me abundantly. Oh how I want everyone I know to understand this gift and love of Jesus. Precious friends, I pray that you and I will be impacted by urgency. There is nothing more important than the love of Jesus. It is ours to share and the time is now. In a world where everything is changing, His love changes everything. XO c

 “But let me say this, dear brothers and sisters: The time that remains is very short… Those who weep or who rejoice or who buy things should not be absorbed by their weeping or their joy or their possessions. 31 Those who use the things of the world should not become attached to them. For this world as we know it will soon pass away.” 1 Corinthians 6:29-31 (NLT)

 

“Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven.

And everyone will see him—

Even those who pierced him.

And all the nations of the world

Will mourn for him.

Yes! Amen!” Revelation 1:7 (NLT)

 

“The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.” 2 Peter 3:9 (NLT)