Don't Waste Today | #006 | Not A Perfect Christian

This week, God taught me something I didn't expect.

After my mom asked why I would spend money to run a marathon, I started asking myself a deeper question: Why do I keep chasing dreams?

Between a 72-hour work week, exams, tennis, marathon training, and reflecting on several moments when I almost lost my life, I realized that every day is a gift from God.

Then something happened at church that completely changed this episode.

Join me as I share how God reminded me that life isn't just about working hard or chasing dreams—it's also about learning to rest, trust Him, and not waste the gift of today.

"Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." — Psalm 90:12

Transcript

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Hello everyone and welcome back to Not a Perfect Christian. I hope you're all doing well. If you're new here, I'm not a pastor, I'm not a Bible scholar, I'm definitely not a perfect Christian. I'm just a regular guy trying to figure out life, faith, and God one week at a time. And this week God taught me something that I honestly I wasn't expecting. It's all started with simple question from my mom. She looked at me and asked, Why are you spending money just to run a marathon? And honestly, that's a fair question. Think about it. 26.2 miles. You wake up at unreasonable hours, you pay an entry fee, you train for months, then you're willing to put your body through hours of pain. If you're explaining that to someone who doesn't run, it sounds completely ridiculous. I just smiled and said, Meh, because it's one of my dreams. But after I said those words, I started asking myself, why is this dream so important to me? Why is it really about running? Or was it about something much deeper? That was the end of the conversation. But it wasn't the end of my thoughts. For the next days I keep thinking about what she asked. Why do I keep chasing my dreams? Why do I always seem to have another goal? Why engineering? Then nursing? Why start a podcast? Why I run a marathon? Why keep saying yes to opportunities? Am I just addicted to being busy? Maybe. But this week I realized that's not the real reason. The marathon isn't really the dream. The dream is not wasting the life God has given me. This week was one of the biggest weeks I've had in a long time. I work about 72 hours. I had two exams, we played our last regular season tennis match. By God's grace, we qualified for sectionals again, and now we have the opportunity to represent Orange County and defend our championship from last year. I'm not gonna lie, there were moments when I couldn't remember what day it was. I think my bed forgot what I look like. People always tell me, you're always busy. And they're right. I enjoy learning, I enjoy working, I enjoy sports, I enjoy serving, I enjoy meeting people, I enjoy trying new things, but I don't want anyone listening to think that being busy is my identity. Because this week God corrected me. And by the end of this episode, I'll tell you how he did it. Because honestly, I walk into church expecting a normal Sunday. Instead, God completely changed the ending of this episode. And I don't think it was an accident. I think people see me today working, running marathon, playing tennis, starting podcasts, always doing something. But what most people don't know is that the life reminded me more than once that tomorrow isn't guaranteed. When I was a kid, I loved climbing trees. I don't know why. Maybe every kid thinks they're Spider-Man. One day I climbed a tree. I slipped, I fell, I dislocated my elbow. At the time, I thought this is the worst day of my life. Of course, I was a kid, everything feels like the worst ever. But looking back, that was just the beginning. In my college time, I got really sick. For almost a month, I had a fever. We honestly thought it was just a normal fever. So we waited. We thought it'd probably go away, but it didn't. Finally, my family brought me to the hospital. That's when the doctor told us it was dengue. Dengue is a deadly mosquito disease. My platelet count had dropped to a dangerous level. The doctor basically told us we came just in time. I'll never forget hearing that because for the first time I realized life can change without warning. Then came COVID. I know all of us have memories from that time. The world stopped, people were scared, nobody knew what was going to happen next. During that time, I was part of a motorcycle club. We organized a feeding program for frontliners. For two days, we traveled through checkpoints delivering food to people working during the pandemic. Honestly, it felt good to help. Sometimes when the world feels broken, the best thing you can do is serve someone else. After the second day, I got on my motorcycle to go home. Everything was normal until it wasn't. I was overtaking another motorcycle. Suddenly the rider cut into my lane. He was holding a bottle of liquor while driving. Everything happened in seconds. I tried to avoid him. The next thing I remember was waking up. I was laying in a river. There were people all around me. I didn't know what happened. I didn't know how I got there. I just remember looking around, trying to understand why I was still alive. By God's grace, the only major injury I had was a broken wrist. Sometimes I think about that day. Not because I'm afraid, but because I know it could ended very differently. Then later, I caught COVID myself. For about a week, breathing was difficult, and at that time there wasn't even a vaccine available yet where I live. I'll be honest, it was scary. Not because I thought I was brave, but because I realized I had absolutely no control. Looking back at all those moments, the tree, the dengue, the motorcycle accident, COVID, I realized something. None of those experiences made me fearless. They made me grateful. If I'm honest, I don't think about those moments every day. But I think they quietly changed the way I live every day. They taught me that every ordinary day is actually extraordinary. Because not everyone gets another tomorrow. They reminded me that every sunrise, every conversation, every opportunity, every hug, every laugh, every drive, every tennis match, every mile I run is a gift from God. In Psalm 9012 says, Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. I used to read that verse and think it was talking about death. Now I think it's talking about life. God isn't telling us to live in fear. That's why I don't want to waste today. Not because I'm afraid tomorrow won't come, but because today is already a gift. Looking back, maybe that's why I became a workaholic. Maybe that's why I keep chasing opportunities. Maybe that's why I don't like wasting time. Because deep down, I know life is fragile. I know every day is a gift. So my mindset became do more, learn more, work harder, help more people, experience more, see more of God's creation. I started saying yes to almost every opportunity. And honestly, I don't regret most of it. I love my job, I love meeting people, I love playing tennis, I love running, I love learning, I love this podcast, I love driving to places instead of flying because I enjoy the journey. People ask me, why would you drive all the way to San Francisco? Because I don't want just to arrive, I want to experience it. I want to stop along the coast, I want to watch the sunset, I want to see the mountains, I want to appreciate the beauty of God's creation. In Psalms 19 say, the heaven declares the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Every time I stand in front of the ocean or watch the sun disappear behind the mountains, I'm reminded that God didn't have to make the world beautiful, but he did. And that tells me something about his heart. I also love meeting people. Every person has a story, every person has a different talent, different personalities, different experience, different struggles. God didn't create copies, he created individuals. And I think that's beautiful. So for a long time I thought if life is a gift, then I should feel every minute. But this week God gently reminded me of something I had been forgetting. During my fast a few weeks ago, one word kept coming back to me. Sabbath. I'll be honest, I didn't really understand it. I thought resting meant I was wasting time. I thought if I slowed down, I'd fall behind. I thought productive people don't stop. Then Sunday happened. I went to church. I had already written most of my of this podcast. I thought I knew exactly why what I was going to say. Then Pastor Ade started preaching. And guess what the message was about? The Sabbath. I just sat there smiling. I couldn't believe it. Out of every topic, God brought me to church on the exact weekend. They were talking about the very thing I'd been wrestling with all week. At one point I actually laughed to myself. I thought, okay God, I hear ya. The pastor explained something that really challenged me. Sometimes people make God's command into heavy burdens. Other times they ignore them completely. But Jesus showed us something different. The Sabbath isn't about earning God's approval, it's about receiving God's gift. That hit me because if I'm honest, sometimes I act like I have to earn my word by staying busy. Work harder, study harder, train harder, do more, accomplish more, then maybe I'll finally feel like I'm enough. But Jesus removed that burden. He reminded us that our identity isn't found in our performance. It's found in Him. That's why I became emotional during worship. I even cried a little. I wasn't crying because life was hard. I wasn't crying because everything suddenly became perfect. I was crying because I felt like God had been teaching me the same lesson all week. And then on Sunday, he confirmed it one more time. Sometimes God doesn't give us a new message. Sometimes he lovingly repeat the same one until our heart finally understands it. It felt like he was saying, You've learned to value life. Now learn to trust me enough to rest. And honestly, I think that's the lesson I needed more than anything this week. Because maybe the goal isn't to squeeze as much as possible into every day. Maybe the goal is to be faithful with whatever God put in front of us and trust him enough to stop when he tells us to rest. Maybe that's why this podcast is called Not a Perfect Christian. Because every week God teaches me something new. Some weeks he teaches me through work, some weeks through family, some weeks through failure, some weeks through serving, some weeks through nature, and this week he taught me through rest. When I started writing this episode, I thought the lesson was don't waste today. And I still believe that. Don't waste the life God has given you. Dream, work hard, love people, serve people, take opportunities, enjoy his creation, tell your family you love them, forgive quickly. Don't keep waiting for a perfect time to start living. Because life is a gift. But after Sunday service, I realized there was one more lesson God wanted me to learn. Don't just work hard, learn to rest well. Because rest isn't quitting, rest isn't laziness, rest isn't falling behind. Rest is trusting that God is still working. Even when you're not, for so long I thought my value came from what I accomplished. How many hours of work? How many goals I achieved? How productive I was. But Jesus reminded us, our work isn't found in our performance, it's found in Him. And honestly, that's freeing. It feels so good, like you're so free, you know? Because it means I don't have to earn God's love. I already have it. I don't have to prove my value. Jesus already settled that at the cross. So maybe this week God wasn't just teaching me to use my time wisely. Maybe he was teaching me to trust him with my time. Ecclesiastes 3 says, There is a time for everything and season for every activity under the heaven. A time to work, a time to rest, a time to plan, a time to harvest, a time to laugh, a time to cry. Every season has a purpose, and maybe you're listening today, feeling exhausted, maybe you're carrying responsibilities no one else sees. Maybe you're working long hours, taking care of your family, trying to finish school, trying to figure out your life. I want to encourage you, keep trusting God. Work faithfully, but don't forget to rest in Him. Because your Heavenly Father loves you, not because of what you accomplish, but because you're His child. And I think that's a lesson I probably spend the rest of my life. That's the lesson I'll probably spend the rest of my life learning. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this week. Thank you for teaching me even when I didn't realize you were speaking. Thank you for reminding me that every day is a gift. Thank you for protecting me through moments I never fully understand until years later. Thank you for every sunrise, every opportunity, every lesson, every person you've placed in my life. Lord, teach us to number our days with wisdom. Help us not to waste the life you've given us. Give us the courage to dream, the strength to work faithfully, the humility to serve others, and the wisdom to know when it's time to rest. Help us stop believing that we have to earn your love through our performance. Remind us that because of Jesus, we are already loved, already accepted, already yours. Help us enjoy the life you've given us. Help us notice the beauty of your creation. Help us love people more deeply. Help us forgive more quickly, and help us trust you with tomorrow. While living faithfully today, we loved you, we trust you. In Jesus' name, amen. Before I go, I want to leave you with one thought. One day I'll work my last shift, I'll run my last marathon, I'll play my last tennis match, I'll record my last podcast. None of us know when that day will come, but today I'm alive. Today I can love. Today I can forgive. Today I can worship. Today I can dream. Today I can thank God. So maybe success isn't about how much we accomplish. Maybe success is simply being faithful with the day God has given us. Because tomorrow isn't promise. So don't waste today. Tomorrow isn't promise. Today is a gift. So don't waste the gift. Remember, we're not trying to become a perfect Christian. We're simply taking one step closer to God every day. Thank you for listening. God bless you all. I'll see you next Monday.