Once in a while, you get ahead of life. The papers are done, the work is over, the hangouts have happened, and the schedule is actually clear. 

That’s whats up.

It’s the night before our annual Missions Conference, and here I am with my friends, in our campus coffee shop, joking around and attempting to do nothing. We’re talking about whatever, complaining about Megabus ticket prices back to Iowa, and drinking cold coffee. I’m wearing slippers, and two of my friends are barefoot. It’s close to midnight here. I’m pretty sure Coldplay or something is playing in the background.

These simple moments will be what I miss. It’s the little pieces that come together to make up the huge puzzle of our individual lives. I will remember the big exams and the big Chicagoland sights and the big-picture milestones. But, as Russell says in the Pixar movie “Up,” it’s the boring stuff that matters the most.  

God is good in the busy and the slow. He is Sovereign in the broken and in the whole. Jesus is Lord no matter what’s going on, and no matter the state of our hearts, he is there and he has a plan.

There is a time for everything, rest included. It’s odd to have free time, and as the weeks go forward, I will forget what it feels like to have nothing pressing to do. However, all time is a blessing, and all time is meant to give God glory. Everything that happens in our daily routines for him, be it a slow moment or the fast lane. 

Ecclesiastes chapter 3 discusses the seasons of life and how God “has made everything beautiful in its time,” setting eternity in our hearts as we long for the end. Colossians 3:23 puts it so: “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Jesus, keep my eyes on you, all the time.