Today I met a guy while working out at the fitness center. I started talking with him in the locker room as I got ready to workout. He was an elderly man, 76 years old, and he made me laugh. Towards the end of our conversation he shared something with me that blew me away. He said, “at one time I was given 3 months to live… that was 15 years ago.”

Wow! Fascinated by this statement, I listened intently as he talked about being diagnosed with cancer, how he felt when they diagnosed him, and why the doctors think he’s still living. After we talked for a while I proceeded to workout, inspired by what I just heard.

But then, the gentlemen came and found me before he left to share with me one more thing. He said, “I’ll tell you why I’m still living, and please pass this along to anyone facing the possibility of death. I’m still living because I had something worth living for. When I was diagnosed with cancer my wife was 5 months pregnant, and I wanted to see my child be born. When he was born, I wanted to see him go to kindergarten. Having those goals got me through the treatments and gave me the strength to live.”

I this dude is right on! He had something worth living for. I’ve been thinking about what this guy said to me today, and the question I keep pondering is “What am I living for?” What is the goal of my life?

As I think about that question I can’t help but think of Paul who wrote in Philippians 3. He said,

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Paul’s goal was to know Jesus. That’s it. That was his goal. In fact, he said he considered everything rubbish (crap) compared to knowing Jesus. Paul knew what he was living for, and that motivated him through some extremely difficult times.

As I sit and think about what the guy at the gym said to me today and Paul’s words, I pray that the goal of my life would be to know Jesus. That’s it, and to consider everything crap compared to knowing him. So, what are you living for?

By the way, Tom is the man!

Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice [Philippians 4:9].

This morning I was reading John 2, the story of the Wedding at Cana where Jesus turns water into wine, and I was blown away by the role of the servant. Here’s Jesus’ interaction with the servants…

Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to theservants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” John 2:6-10

Look at what Jesus asked the servants to do.
– Fill the jars with 20-30 gallons of water. This meant carrying these jugs to the well, filling them, and then bringing them back to Jesus. That would have been a lot of work. Have you ever tried to carry 20-30 gallons of water? Those suckers would have been heavy! They might have put them on a cart, but still they had to lift them on the cart. Then they had to take them to the master of the feast. This must have been confusing. Why are we bringing water to the master of the feast? It’s the wine that they ran out of? What the heck?

But look at what the servants witnessed.
– They were the first to witness Jesus transform the water into wine. They were the first to realize what had happened.

Here’s what hit me…
Serving Jesus is hard work. Carrying the water was hard work. Serving others is hard work. It’s not what we naturally want to do. But often Jesus asks us to do that which isn’t easy. But unless we are willing to do the hard work, we will not be put in the position to witness Jesus move in power. It was the willingness of the servants that put them in the position to see the transformational power of Jesus. If they didn’t carry the water, they would have never seen it turn into wine. Unless we are willing to do the hard work of serving others, forgiving others, having the hard conversations, we will never be in the position to see Jesus transform their lives.