Fellowship Around the Table
Great conversations about life, faith, and the Bible from Fellowship Bible Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma (www.fbctulsa.org).
Fellowship Around the Table
Life Is Short w/ Scott L. Johnson
Embark on an enlightening exploration with Scott L. Johnson as we confront the impermanence of our existence and its profound impact on the choices we make. Our candid dialogue traverses through the reality of life's fleeting nature, with Scott's insights illuminating how an encounter with terminal illness can strip away the veneer of materialism and bring the value of relationships and time into sharp focus. As we laugh together at life's quirks and ponder the influence of sin as our shared terminal condition, you'll be moved to consider how this understanding can transform the way you approach each day.
With Scott as our thoughtful guide, we navigate the amusing intricacies of gender dynamics in life expectancy. From the hazardous occupations primarily filled by men to the antics that sometimes lead to their undoing, our discussion takes a light-hearted turn while contemplating the distractions of life that cloud our awareness of mortality. As we age, the disparity in longevity between men and women diminishes, a fact we examine with humor and a touch of mathematical misadventure, reminding us all too humanly that life's clock ticks for everyone.
In our final reflections, we compare life to a succinct two-hour window, instilling a sense of urgency to craft a legacy that echoes into eternity. We consider the poignant metaphor of our lives as living epistles, emphasizing the need to live in alignment with Christian values and to project a message that resonates with the divine. Join us for a session that challenges you to live each moment with intention and to prioritize what will eternally endure, inspired by the ultimate message of hope from Jesus Christ.
You are listening to Fellowship Around the Table. All right, welcome back to Fellowship Around the Table. Heath here, and I have my good friend with me, Scott L Johnson.
Speaker 2:Hi Heath.
Speaker 1:Scott is trying to convince me that my life is only two hours long, correct, and he's got me trapped here in this podcast studio, so this is how I'm going to spend my two hours. Correct, two hours doesn't sound very long, scott.
Speaker 2:It's not Okay. That's spot on. Let me ask you this question, heath, to start off this discussion have you ever known someone who was terminally ill? Yes, how was their thinking different than your thinking?
Speaker 1:Oh, terminally ill. Yes, how was their thinking different than your thinking? Oh, man, you know, the everyday concerns of the just day-to-day life seem to just vanish yep so so let's refine the question what sort of things became less important to them? Work, money, stuff, stuff. Yeah, material things, silly quibbles or arguments or what became more important to them people, people their loved ones loved ones time, friends time, yeah time.
Speaker 2:I have an appointment today, okay, to talk to someone who's terminally ill. And what do you think I should say to that person?
Speaker 1:I think you know I'm always comforted by in those times and as an elder I get to pray with a lot of people in situations like that and I love to remind them of our hope for eternity.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think so too.
Speaker 1:What else? What are you?
Speaker 2:thinking Well, my appointment today with that person is at 1130 this morning. What time Hold on a minute? What time is it right now? It would be 1126.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, you better hurry and finish this podcast you got to get out of here.
Speaker 2:Do you know who that person is, heath? I'm beginning to think it's me, it's you, it's you, and I'm talking to myself here too. Okay, and you know what? I'm talking to all of our listeners. Listeners, you are terminally ill. I think those might be the most important words in this talk that I give you are terminally ill. I am terminally ill. Yeah, give you are terminally ill. I am terminally ill Now, heath what is it that we? Are terminally ill of Sin.
Speaker 1:Sin.
Speaker 2:We are terminally ill of sin. Now we don't think of ourselves as being terminally ill unless a medical professional has said to us I'm really sorry, your diagnosis is terminal. And there probably are people that will listen to this podcast that have heard those words that are in that state that we would call terminally ill. But I think as believers in Christ, as subscribers to the Bible, we have to understand that every one of us is born terminally ill.
Speaker 2:We are all terminally ill, and we're terminally ill of sin. Now, if I thought I had a week left to live, I might do the podcast with you, because I really love doing this, but I might spend that week with my grandkids and my adult children, or my dad and his wife, who are living in their 80s. I might make different choices, but I would say this I think all of us would do well to adopt the mindset and go back to what you said before about what would be more important if we had that diagnosis and what would be less important. I think if we could adopt that thinking that stuff is less important, people, family, close friends, maybe even strangers if we think we have a role to play in their life are more important. I think if we could adopt that mindset, we would all be better off for it.
Speaker 2:Heath, there was a guy that I know who had a blood draw one day and the blood was drawn in the doctor's office and he was waiting in the lobby area back you know where all the chairs are and the receptionists oh yeah, and they had the equipment in the office to analyze his blood, okay. So all of a sudden the door flew open and the medical tech said Mr Johnson, please come back, we have the result of your blood work. And she looked kind of pained. I followed her back and she said please wait in this exam room. The doctor will be right in. So she closed the door and shortly I could hear footsteps quickly coming down the hall getting louder. The door flew open and the doctor came in with a sense of real urgency on his face and he looked at me and he said Mr Johnson, we have the results of your blood test.
Speaker 2:I've got good news and bad news. What do you want first? Now, what would you say, heath? Do you want the good news first or the bad news? I always go bad news first. You know what's hilarious? I've given this talk many times. Everybody wants the bad news first. I only had one group where more people said they wanted the good news first Only one. But since it's my story, I'm going to give you the good news first. Okay, I'm giving you the good news. Here's the good news. This is what the doctor said to me. Scott, you have two hours to live. Now, if you were me, what would your next question be? That's the good news. Isn't that the truth? That's the good news, doc. I said good news. What could the bad news possibly be? The bad news is we drew your blood an hour and a half ago. You've got 30 minutes. You're down to 30 minutes. That's the bad news. You with me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's very believable that I would spend an hour and a half out of it in that waiting room. That's right. I feel like I have spent a good chunk.
Speaker 2:That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1:You can imagine that can't you?
Speaker 2:Okay, All right, so here's where I'm getting this from 2 Peter 3.8. Peter writes to the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. Okay, Now he gets that, by the way, from Psalm 90, verse 4, which is the only psalm that Moses wrote, which I think is a really interesting little connection there.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I didn't realize until I've been aware of this verse in 2 Peter for a long time. I didn't realize until fairly recently that he lifted the concept from Psalm 90, which I think is really cool. But Peter puts it both ways To the.
Speaker 2:Lord, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day. So let's talk about life expectancy, and I'm going to bring this all back to the two hours here in a minute, but just work with me on this. Do you know what our life expectancy is in the United States when a baby is born?
Speaker 1:Male or female? Excellent question, thank you Either, I would say male. It's dropped here recently. I would say a male's 77 and a female's 79.
Speaker 2:You're real close. Okay, you're real close. So four or five years ago when I looked this up and, by the way, who knew, the US Social Security Administration has an office of the chief actuary Okay, there's a job to aspire to If you're really a numbers geek. I'm a pretty nerdy numbers person, but not quite that level.
Speaker 2:But they have an office of the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration and they publish. You can go to their website anytime and find life expectancy for people born in different years or at different ages. Basically, a few years ago when I looked this up, the man's a boy's life expectancy when he was born in the US was 76. A woman's was 81. Okay, five years difference. Now COVID's a real thing, yeah, and COVID has shaved time off of that. Today a man's rounds to 74. Oh, think about this. You have 300 million people. That two years is extremely significant statistically because you have a huge pool you're drawing from.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:A woman's life expectancy. A girl, when she's born today, has life expectancy of 80. Wow, so hers has dropped from 81 to 80. His has dropped from 76 to 74. Okay, there's a six-year difference between 80 and 74. Why do you think men's is shorter than women's.
Speaker 1:Don't you hate doing this with me?
Speaker 2:Because I keep putting you on the spot in every episode.
Speaker 1:We do I think men Take more stupid risks.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, okay Now.
Speaker 1:So let's on the serious side men generally Hold my beer kind of yes, exactly, okay, we're going to go there in like 30 seconds.
Speaker 2:Okay. So men, historically, and I would say still stereotypically, as a rule do the more dangerous jobs. I'm not saying women can't do them or they don't ever do them, but men generally do them. Literally in the field that I work in our field employees which is dangerous work is 99% male, 99% male so on the front lines of army combat, there are women.
Speaker 2:I'm not saying that there aren't, but there are many more men than women Police officers, swat team, firemen you know these are just going to be more women doing the less risky jobs and more men doing the more risky jobs. But I love teaching this because there's always someone in the group that'll say well, men do more stupid stuff. And that's exactly right too, isn't it so like, hey guys watch this. When's the last time you heard a woman saying, hey, girls watch this? We've never heard that it probably happens. But When's the last time you heard a woman saying, hey girls, watch this? We've never heard that it probably happens. But it's the stereotype. The joke is hey guys watch this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the joke is it ends up being this ridiculous, painful thing. And the next guy in line is like okay, now, no, watch this.
Speaker 2:And some of the time it's poof, the guy's out, he's gone, he's gone, he's dead. Right, or I wonder where the mama bear is Think about that for a minute.
Speaker 2:Or no, I'm sure these are the good kind of mushrooms, guys, come on. Or, like you said, hey guys, hold my beer. Another variation of watch this and then poof, he's gone. That's why men have a lower life expectancy. Now I love to also tell the women. It's their fault and because this is a podcast, our listeners can't see these, but I have four black and white photos that I pilfered off the internet years and years ago, before I ever knew I was going to be doing all this teaching, and they show why men die younger than women.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So in one of them there's a male train conductor who's leaning out the train looking at a pretty girl walking by. Okay, clearly he and the train are in motion and he's coming to the tunnel, okay. So the idea is this guy is about to get it. He's about to get whacked in half because he's looking at the pretty girl walking in the train tunnel. In the second one there's a barber shaving a man with a straight razor. Out the window is a pretty girl. The barber is looking at the pretty girl. He's not looking at the man's neck where he's had up the razor right there. He's looking out the window and the poor guy in the chair is like oh, okay.
Speaker 2:In the third one a man has crashed his sports car on a bridge into the railing at the side of the bridge because there's a pretty girl standing on the sidewalk. The thing I love about that picture is the man is looking out the window at his crashed, wrecked sports car, still looking at the girl. In the fourth one there's a man riding on this combine with lawnmower. I don't know how wide this lawnmower is 10, 15 feet wide. He's looking around, sort of behind him at a pretty girl who's walking past, but in front of him, in front of this mower, is a guy reading a book with headphones on, so he can't hear the mower coming.
Speaker 2:The guy who's operating the mower isn't paying attention to where he's going, where the guy is in his path and this guy's about to be made into ground beef. So all four of these pictures are really hysterical, but they prove that it's a woman's fault that we don't live as long. It's our fault because we're looking at them.
Speaker 2:But it's their fault, because they're worth looking at, right. Okay. So, in any event, the fact is, men don't live as long as women statistically, actuarially. But the other thing is, the older we get, the more life expectancy we have, Because if we reach age 50, for example, the live to be about 80. And, by the way, if we live to age 80, the woman is statistically going to live to 89. The man's going to live to 88, which means we're still doing stupid stuff by the time we're 80.
Speaker 2:But by the time we reach 90, we're both going to live to 94. Okay, actuarially, if we make it to 100, we're both going to live to 94. Actuarially, if we make it to 100, we're both going to live to 102. Okay, but it takes to age 80, heath before we're not doing stupid stuff anymore. I think that's so hysterical.
Speaker 1:I would love to think that that's finally some wisdom and maturity, but it's probably just physical ability.
Speaker 2:I think that's probably exactly right. The desire to do the stupid stuff is still there. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Let's go with that, okay? So to simplify this, let's say our life expectancy is 80 years, okay. Okay, now you're a math guy and I'm a math guy yeah.
Speaker 2:So 80 years if our life expectancy, that's what we're going to assume for the sake of our conversation. That's what we're going to assume for the sake of our conversation. If a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day, 80 years is what percent of 1,000 years? 0.8. It's not.
Speaker 1:Oh no. There's another blooper, I get machines to do the math for me.
Speaker 2:Of course.
Speaker 1:I don't always know how to do it in my head.
Speaker 2:You got your computer there, fire up Excel, you can do it right there. So 80 out of 1,000 is the same if we move the decimal point over as 8 out of 100. Yes, right, okay. So 8 out of 100 is what percentage Carry the one?
Speaker 1:It's 8%. I know All right by definition.
Speaker 2:I knew that, Okay, all right and you know what Heath. I believe you.
Speaker 1:Scott, hold my beer For the record. There's no beer in the podcast studio here. Just saying oh, wait a minute. Is that root beer you?
Speaker 2:got over at A&W. I might be wrong about that. Okay, so 80 out of 1,000 is 8%. Okay, so 80 out of 1,000 is 8%, our life expectancy. I'm going back to the 2 Peter passage, where he quotes Psalm 90, a day is like 1,000 years. 1,000 years is like a day. Our life expectancy is 8% of 1,000 years. Okay, now, if it's 8% of 1,000 years and that's equivalent to a day, which is equivalent to 24 hours, what's 8% of 24 hours?
Speaker 1:I'm going to guess two hours. It is, it is.
Speaker 2:I don't know how you came up with that Heath, other than the fact we were talking about two hours a few minutes ago.
Speaker 1:The brain's humming now.
Speaker 2:There you go. The brain's humming now. So basically, that's where I get this. We have two hours to live. Heath, we have two hours to live. So if we break that down, if our 80 years is equivalent to two hours, 40 years is equivalent to one hour. 10 years is equivalent to how long? 15 minutes, 15 minutes. And so one year out of that 10 years, if 10 is 15 minutes, one year is equivalent to how many minutes.
Speaker 1:I think I just lost 15 minutes equivalent to how many minutes, I think.
Speaker 2:I just lost 15 minutes. It'd be one and a half, okay, so 15, move the decimal point over one. You got 1.5 minutes. So, heath, in the big eternal picture of things, I would argue that our life is about two hours long and every year of our life is about a minute and a half. In the big eternal picture of things, and I think when we die and we look back.
Speaker 2:I don't know how this works, if we'll do this, but I think if we looked back on it from the eternal perspective the eternity of heaven we could probably summarize it in about a two-hour highlight reel. That's kind of how I think of this. I don't know if I'm right or not, but I think it's really helpful framework and perspective for us to have when we think about how fleeting our time really is and the fact that we're terminally ill and what should be important. We feel like we have all this time. But if you think about your life, how old are you now, heath? I am 42. Okay, and I'm 63. But even at 42 years old, how fast have those 42 years gone?
Speaker 1:I can't even describe it, it's amazing how fast the time has gone.
Speaker 2:that's already elapsed. Today feels like it's a long time. This year feels like it's a whole other year. It's going by slowly, it's not.
Speaker 1:If it all would just move as slowly as what it's like to be in that waiting room, it would seem that way, wouldn't it?
Speaker 2:Wouldn't it? But no matter what age we are, if we're older than like high school, we know how fast the time that's gone before has gone past, and what we need to remember is all the time that we have left however much time that is is going to go by just as fast as that time. Wow, it's all going to go by that fast. Now I like James. 4.14.
Speaker 1:James is really in your face. Yes, he is.
Speaker 2:And James 4.14 says what is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. So I have a prop with me you do why that appears for a little while and then vanishes. So I have a prop with me. You do. Why don't you describe what I'm holding here?
Speaker 1:This is a water bottle, it's like a squirt bottle.
Speaker 2:Squirt bottle Right.
Speaker 1:It's one of those that it's like does that have a chemical in it or water?
Speaker 2:It says water on the front Handwritten. I'm going to spray you with it, anded I have a similar one that says broadleaf weed killer at home.
Speaker 1:So you know, you never know what might be in this.
Speaker 2:I'm going to squirt this where we can hear it. I want the listeners to hear this and picture this mist. Oh, that's a great sound.
Speaker 1:Do that again. Oh yeah, I saw it.
Speaker 2:How many seconds does that hang in the air? Less than one, I saw it. How many seconds?
Speaker 1:does that hang in the air Less than one?
Speaker 2:I mean one maybe, maybe a few Maybe a few. Let's count it Okay 1, 100, 2, 100, 3, 100.
Speaker 1:It's gone. Your eyes are better than mine, maybe three seconds.
Speaker 2:Okay, your life, heath, my life, is like this mist that appears for a short time and then vanishes. That mist that appears for a short time and then vanishes. That's how long our life is. I want to tell you a funny story about this. This is a nice water bottle.
Speaker 1:This is not a dollar tree water bottle.
Speaker 2:It has two settings on it. I got it out and I was on my way to give this talk early one morning and I tested it in the garage just to make sure it still worked, and it went like that.
Speaker 1:That was the jet stream setting.
Speaker 2:That was the jet stream setting, which is what it was on. I almost took out two people in the front row without realizing I was going to do it. So fortunately I turned it to the mist setting before I got there, before I squirted these guys.
Speaker 1:I can imagine you showing up at the top, can't you? What was the old comedian in the 70s that smashed the watermelons?
Speaker 2:I can't remember his name, but I know exactly who you're talking about. It starts with an M and F, but that's you at this Sunday school class on Sunday morning. Yes, the front rows got the garbage bags on, that's right the shield, the clear shield of water to bounce off of.
Speaker 2:So James 4.14 says you're a mist, your life is a mist that appears for a little while and vanishes. Okay so, heath, if our life is a mist and it's really only two hours long, then I think it would be good for us to know what kind of things does God think we should emphasize with it? We know, if we were terminally ill, people would become more important. Stuff would be less important. Let's look at what God says about this. So let's start with 1 Corinthians. Three, 10 through 15.
Speaker 1:All right, let me read that. Yeah, according to the grace of God given to me like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire what happens if you burn gold silver or precious stones they actually become more refined, they lose their impurities.
Speaker 2:And, and, and they're still they still they are.
Speaker 1:they still are what they are, still gold. They still remain, Even if they're liquefied and solidified again.
Speaker 2:there's still those things. Yes, what happens to wood, hay and straw?
Speaker 1:They are burned up and they become ash.
Speaker 2:They become ash and they're burned up. And so God is telling us here, paul is telling us on God's behalf, I want you to build gold, silver and precious stones, the valuable stuff. I don't want you to spend your time on wood, hay and stubble or straw.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I love how the gospel's weaved in here, because he's not asking us to build the foundation.
Speaker 2:That's right. It's already been done and he's making it clear that Christ is our foundation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we don't have to start it, we don't have to build the it's not a better word for foundation Right, but we don't, we don't, but, we don't, we don't. We get to build upon it through the works that he's called us to do. That's exactly right the base, the foundation.
Speaker 2:That's it, and it's as firm as it can be.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:There's one other thing I want to comment on here, and I know this is a doctrine that's very important, I know, to you and me both, and I don't want to be divisive for people that may be listening to this that don't subscribe to this doctrine, but I think it's really clear here. At the end it says if what he's built is burned up, he will suffer loss and yet he will be saved as one escaping through the flames. So I think this is a very clear reference to the security that we have as believers in Christ. Even if we have built nothing of value and what we've built is burned up because it's only wood, hay and stubble or straw, we are still saved, even if we have nothing and we're barely escaping through the flames.
Speaker 1:That's correct. The language here has this idea of if you left a house fire and you walked out and you had just nothing left but you, but you did not perish, you made it out. Yeah, and it's not clear just in these five verses I read but what Paul is referring to here is what we call the judgment seat of Christ. This is the judgment for believers in Christ. They are not judged for their sins. Why aren't they judged?
Speaker 2:for their sins, scott, because they have been paid once for all.
Speaker 1:That's right, as we talked about in another podcast, yeah, so this is a judgment for the works done in the body when you are on the foundation of Jesus Christ, when you're in the book of life.
Speaker 2:That's right, yeah, Okay. So the next verse I want to go to is 2 Corinthians, 3, 2 and 3. And I'll comment about something about this. A lot of people say they have a life verse about this. A lot of people say they have a life verse, and this passage it's two verses was the first thing that I would say was my life passage.
Speaker 1:Is that right?
Speaker 2:2 Corinthians 3, 2 and 3. I'm up to three that I sort of claim. I don't mean to use that word improperly, but I sort of think of the three verses or passages as my life passages, Two of them I'm going to talk about right now. So second Corinthians three, two and three.
Speaker 1:This is an old DFL memory verse too. It is it sure is.
Speaker 2:Exactly right. A little. I want to give a little shout out to Bruce Ewing. Yeah, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1:That's some inside talk right there. All right. Verse two you yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all, and you show of yourself as a letter Heath that other people are reading. No.
Speaker 2:I don't either, most of the time, but that's what I love about this passage. No People we barely know and will hardly ever know A flight attendant, a restaurant server, somebody at Quick Trip that we pay Everybody is reading us, even though they don't think we're reading us. They're reading a letter of our life and my question for us and for people listening to this talk is what do they see when they read your life? Do they see a message from Christ to them in our actions, in our countenance, in our personality? What do they see? Yeah, wow. So that second Corinthians 3, 2, and 3. Another life verse for me, which we've talked about on previous podcasts, is James 1, 19, and 20. And you know, james, I referred to James 4, 14. He's the one who said said your life is a mist that appears for a little while. He's just in our face, and I think he's in our face here as much as any verse. So, james 1.19 and 20.
Speaker 1:I was just looking up the rules on how many life verses you could have. Yeah, what's the?
Speaker 2:limit. I think you're tapped out. Am I at the limit?
Speaker 1:That's a three I've got two fingers left on this hand here Can I go above three. I think that's a record anecdotally for me from what I've heard from people, but I love that.
Speaker 2:I love that. I'm happy to have the record of that.
Speaker 1:All right, james 1, 19 through 20. Yep, know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear. So let's break this down. What's our normal order of operations?
Speaker 2:Your kid does something and— I know what it is. What happens? First, quick to anger Yep, that's right. And then what do we do? Yell, we start talking a lot, a lot more words and loud and probably a higher pitch, yeah, and then what's? What are we doing? Very little of listening, listening, and if we're listening, we're probably listening, so we can hear how to rebut whatever the person is saying how are? We going to prove them wrong, right? So James turns our natural order of operations on its head.
Speaker 2:I would even say he turns our sinful order of operations on its head, Because the Bible is all about one another's and this passage is about one another's. It's about holding the other person in higher regard and stopping to see what's going on through their eyes. So to be quick to listen means we have to have open ears, receptive hearts. We're really seeking to understand what's happening on their end. Slow to speak and slow to anger. I think, Heath, if we could adopt this verse and I've probably said this earlier, maybe in the marriage podcast we did with you and Jay if we could adopt this verse more often, our life would be better, and so would everyone else's around us, even if they didn't.
Speaker 1:I would love to live in a culture that had this. Wouldn't that be great yeah.
Speaker 2:Wouldn't that be great, where everyone was seeking to hear more than they were to speak.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would love to be a citizen that voted an election, that that the whole process was in this order.
Speaker 2:Yes, Wouldn't it be great if he had a presidential debate where this was going on? What is that? I don't understand why they don't just cut the microphone off when the timer runs out, but anyway.
Speaker 1:I digress.
Speaker 2:I digress, let's go on so, carrying all this back. To me, this is the important stuff of life. We're a letter Other people are reading. What do they see about Christ? When they read us as a letter? We should be quick to listen to them. Let them talk. You know, if I have lunch with somebody and my lunch is gone in 10 minutes and theirs is still there because they're doing all the talking, I'm great with that because I'm learning about that person all during that time.
Speaker 2:And then the idea that our life is short and we should be building gold, silver and precious stones, the way they will look from eternity, not wood, hay and stubble, the stuff that's meaningless. I go back to the idea if we were terminally ill, what would be important? Because that's the gold, the silver and the precious stones, and what would become less important is the wood, hay and straw. So the main point is life is short, so let's take our two hours and let's break it down a little bit, okay. So, heath, you are closer to what decade than any other decade? Your age would be closer to what multiple of 10? Four, forty, forty, right, we're leaving that in.
Speaker 1:We're not, we're not. We're not redoing that, we're leaving that in.
Speaker 2:Your wife might agree with four.
Speaker 1:from time to time, I'm starting to get trepidation when you ask the question.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to be invited back. Folks. I hope you enjoyed this podcast. This will be the last one. So you're closer to 40. So that means of your two hours, how much of it have you burned up already? Oh, half, you burned up half. How much have you got left? Less than half? You got an hour to live Heath. Yeah.
Speaker 2:To the nearest decade right To the nearest 15 minutes. You got an hour left. So if someone's 20 and they're listening to this podcast, I'm going to guess we'll have some 20-somethings. If they're closer to 20, how much of their two hours do they have left?
Speaker 1:Hour and a half.
Speaker 2:Hour and a half If they're 30-ish, closer to 30. What are you doing to me? I could say 37, heath, come on, I'm letting you off the hook.
Speaker 1:I have a headache.
Speaker 2:If they're closer to 30 than in the other decade.
Speaker 1:I think I got this Hour 15.
Speaker 2:An hour 15. Clean that up. You got it. You had there. I can see that you knew it. The brain had it, but the mouth was stumbling on the way out. I can see you had it Closer to 40,. You got an hour left.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:If you're closer to 50,. You've got how much time left 45 minutes. You've got how much time left? 45 minutes, 45 minutes. Okay, if you're closer to 60,. That's where I'm at. I'm 63.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:If you're closer to 60, then how much time do I have left A sitcom? 30 minutes, that's exactly right. That's exactly right. I got 30 minutes left and that's my illustration. When I had the blood test Right, I had two hours, hours, but the blood was drawn an hour and a half earlier.
Speaker 2:I have down to 30 minutes.
Speaker 2:That's where that was the bad news. That was that the bad news was 30 minutes left. The good news was I had two hours, right, yeah, by the way, do you know what the doctor's name is in that story? The great physician. Oh, jesus christ.
Speaker 2:Okay, because we're looking at his words, we're looking at his words, we're looking at his scripture. He is the word, right. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God, and then the word became flesh. We're looking at the essence of Jesus Christ when we read these scriptures. So Jesus is the great physician who came into that room that day and said to me Scott, do you want the good news or the bad news? The good news is, scott, you've got two hours.
Speaker 2:The bad news is you're down to 30 minutes. And it's not bad news because when I leave this life, I'm going to be with him. The point is I only have 30 minutes left to do the good works he's given me to do, to build the gold, silver and precious stones on the foundation of Jesus Christ. That's why it's bad news. My time is very short and I ought to prioritize those things in Now, if somebody's 70 years old, heath, how much time do they have left? 15 minutes, 15 minutes. What if someone's 80? I've given this talk to lots of classes that had older people in it that were 80 or more, and I asked the question what if you're 80 years old? Of course it prompts a ripple of laughter through the classroom Like uh-oh Well.
Speaker 1:They get some overtime.
Speaker 2:Actuarially, if you remember.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:By the time you hit 80, a woman is expected to live to 89 and a man to 88. Because we're still doing a few stupid things. But statistically, or the math on that, works down to 12 minutes Right. So an 80-year-old and a 70-year-old really has more than the 15. But just to make it simple, even by the time you hit 80, you've still got 12 minutes left. By the time you hit 90, you're statistically going to live to 94 in the US, which is six minutes a minute and a half for each year. Okay. And even by the time you hit a hundred, you're going to statistically live to 102. You've still got three minutes left, you know what you're reminding me of.
Speaker 2:What. Well you don't watch sports but soccer.
Speaker 1:When they finish a match, the ref or ump I don't know what they call them on the field they can add time and nobody knows what it's going to be they. They have some running track record of time that got wasted that needs to be added back, so you get to the end, and they'll be like four more minutes game time.
Speaker 2:I didn't know that. Oh yeah, it's wild. I didn't know you could do that.
Speaker 1:So that's what I just heard you. You got to 80 and they're like nope, nine more minutes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, how interesting, yeah, and that's kind of how our lives work. That's how our lives work and I'll tell you, a minister from whom I've heard lots of sermons would say as long as you have breath left in you, god is not done with you. Absolutely, and I think his words are spot on right here as long as you have breath left in you, god is not done with you. So if you're 100 or you're 20, god is not done with you and you have work to do. And the thought that I like to leave this with is to go back to this idea of being terminally ill, heath, you are terminally ill. Back to this idea of being terminally ill, heath, you are terminally ill, you have. We think you have 40 plus years left on our 80 year scale, but the fact is we don't know that, do we?
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:We do not. All of us would do well every day to live like we're terminally ill and to make priority and use of our time as if we knew every day we were terminally ill. And we have very short time left.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and build upon that foundation which is Christ Yep. Yeah, I love it. Great advice, great reminder. A little sobering, but I think we can laugh along with it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we can.
Speaker 1:We can Any parting words Scott.
Speaker 2:You're terminally ill, buddy.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 2:You have an hour left to live. I'm down to 30 minutes.
Speaker 1:And yet I know the prescription for that terminal illness.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:And that's Jesus Christ. That's exactly right, all right.
Speaker 2:And the more time we can spend doing the work he's giving us to do yeah, the more percent of our time we can spend doing that, the better.
Speaker 1:Yep, you heard it. Listeners, you are a letter that is being read by all those around you. All right, all right. Well, another great week. I sure enjoy having you here, scott.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much, heath, I love being here. You do a great job of this. You're a natural at it. I love sitting here as you're doing this.
Speaker 1:That's very kind. I'm sure you'll be back and joining me soon. Look forward to it All right, we'll see you all next week.
Speaker 2:Thanks for joining Fellowship Around the Table. If you'd like to learn more, go to fbctulsaorg. 2 Peter 3.8. Peter writes to the day. Screw that up. Like to learn more? Go to fbctulsaorg 2. Peter 3.8. Okay, peter writes to the day to screw that up.
