I’m Not an Amateur-Crastinator, I’m a Pro-Crastinator

“What are you doing, Honey?” I asked my wife one evening. “Making my lunch for tomorrow,” she replied. “Making your lunch for tomorrow, why?” I asked. “Its 14 hours before you have to be to work…why not wait till 7:25 tomorrow morning, like me?” My name is Dan -- and I am a procrastinator. When I was in college I usually started my term papers the night before they were due and then stayed up all night to type them (usually by sitting in the bathtub with a board across the tub for the typewriter to sit on. Seriously, I’m not making that up…I didn’t want to keep my wife and daughters awake. And of course I had my clothes on). A friend named Lee had his done a couple weeks before they were due. How he did that I will never know. I have discovered that I put off doing a lot of stuff: Taxes Packing for a trip Filling the car up with gas Going through the mail Shoveling snow Filling out reports Christmas shopping Some guys do their Christmas shopping for their wives at about 2:00 on Christmas Eve. I told a friend one time that I was different from all of them – I PLAN to do my shopping at 2:00 on Christmas Eve. I put off going to the dentist, doing my exercises, raking the yard, even writing this article. A while back I was reading through the Gospel of Mark and one word seemed to keep popping up. It was the word “immediately.” In the Greek it’s the adverb “euthus.” It’s used 53 times in the NT, but 39 of those are found in Mark! So that’s just 14 times for the remaining 26 books of the NT. And the word appears 11 times in chapter one alone. Immediately, immediately, immediately. When I saw that, it spoke to my heart about the fact that not only was Jesus’ life filled with a sense of mission, but there was also a tremendous sense of urgency to that mission. The dictionary defines procrastination this way: 1) To defer action, delay until an opportunity is lost 2) To put off till another day or time 3) To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness 4) To postpone or delay needlessly Habitual laziness? That can’t possibly be the reason why I defer, dally, dawdle, delay, and drag my feet! You mean at the root of me being Procrastinator Extraordinaire is laziness? That can’t possibly be true. But there simply are some things though that you CANNOT put off. Like: Saying “I love you” to your wife each day. I bet some of the husbands in the Twin Towers on 9/11 wished they had said, “Honey I just want you to know I love you” before they left the house that ill-fated morning. Hugging your kids (and your grandkids). Calling your mom. Calling your dad. Giving your heart to Jesus. A teenage boy named Teddy mowed the church lawn where I used to be the pastor. He was about 16 and was such a nice kid. But late one Saturday I received a heart-rending phone call. Teddy was driving his car down highway B but when he went to cross the four lane highway, he never made it. Paul said in II Corinthians 6:2, “Behold, now is the day of salvation.” You may think you have tomorrow, but you don’t. “To delay until an opportunity is lost.” That should sober us up a little bit concerning the precious commodity of “time.” Your life can change forever in just a moment. Don’t delay, defer and drag your feet in spiritual things. Make every day count! Dan Vander Ark Copyright 2008 All rights reserved