Proclaim Trust

When's Half Time? - By Ian Watson

The Senior minister of the Church where Tina and I are based is called Ian Watson. Ian is also on the National Leadership Team of the AoG (Assemblies of God). Each month the NLT sends out brief e-mail messages called "communiqué" to all AoG ministers. On the 1st February, we received one from Ian called "When's Half Time"?

At the age of 57, I am constantly challenged about the remainder of my life. The part which has gone and is totally irreplaceable (because you can only spend your time), I have tried to use in serving God and people and have certainly felt privileged to be able to do so.

However, because I have been quite driven by the quote I used in my previous communiqué, ‘When your memories exceed your dreams the end is near,’ I am determined the time I have left must deliberately be put to wise and efficient use.

Most events in life have a known time span, for instance:

The working day – For many people 12 noon is half time, they know they only have till 4 or 5 pm and then are going home.

A football match – The players and supporters know that at half time there are only 45 minutes to go; even time added on is clearly identified by the fourth official.

Of course, I could give many more examples of this principle. However, this concept does break down with our own lives. The fact is none of us know when we have reached half time.  The startling fact is that someone at the age of 30 might have reached half time at the age of 16, so, unbeknown to them, the end is near.

Because none of us know when we have reached half time, we obviously don’t know when our own personal full time whistle will blow.  This is probably one of the reasons the bible encourages us to ‘make the most of every opportunity.’

Can I encourage you to do just that with whatever remaining days or years you may be privileged to serve God with. 

Ian Watson

National Leadership Team 

I don’t know where you are on your journey, but I’m sure that for many of you this brief message will be of some help? That’s why after reading it; I contacted him to ask if I could publish it on our website.