GC+You is a weekly blog contributed by GCU Campus Pastor Tim Griffin and Student Development Director John-Paul Reiger.
This past weekend we remembered the tenth anniversary of 9/11. It is a day we will never forget. However, we carried on in a very "normal" way in our home.
We started the day by watching the memorial service on TV, ran to the store, watched too much football (I love football), cooked meals, read books, played games, went for a swim, checked email, did some laundry and more. Around dinnertime, the phone rang.
The chase began!
My son raced to the phone, picked it up and took off. This game plays itself out quite often in the Reiger home. This time though it did not feel like "game" time.
My wife's grandma was unwell and we knew her life could be ending soon. We were waiting for a call from Teressa's dad and that is who was on the phone.
As I watched my wife's face, I knew what she was hearing. In an instant, life can change. Maybe life changes for millions and sometime's life changes for a small few. But...in a brief moment it changes.
I am not writing to dwell on the losses that we all have experienced, or to bring focus to death. I am writing to remind us how precious our lives really are.
On a weekend where we remembered thousands of lives to remembering the life of a humble great-grandma, I am reminded how precious those around us truly are.
We are trained to pick right back up where we left off and to act as if we never missed a beat. In reality, we probably need to miss a few beats so that we spend time and energy in the right places at the right times.
It is easy to spot how programmed we have become. Let us not have the monotonous behavior of day-to-day life take over the excitement that life truly is.
Celebrate in a healthy and thankful way all those that you have the privilege of sharing life.
John-Paul Reiger is the Student Development Director in the Office of Campus Life at Grand Canyon University. Contact John-Paul at [email protected].
