Tempus Fugit

"Tempus fugit" is the Latin phrase we commonly translate into English as "Time flies." And fly it does. We're already a week into September; what happened to August? We did have an August this year, didn't we? And the rest of the summer? I'm sure we did, but it went by so quickly most of us seem to have missed it entirely this year. But I guess that's what they mean when they say, "Time flies when you're having fun." To be fair, I'm pretty confident time flies even when you're not having fun. Anyone who has been with a loved one as they die can tell you that. Those final few seconds slip by far, far too rapidly. Yes, I'm convinced "tempus fugit" whether you want it to "fugit" or not.

Clocks and calendars rule our lives, and they are harsh taskmasters. No matter how hard you try, the deadline for that big project at work will still come at the appointed time. No matter how much you dread it, you will eventually get to the day you never wanted to happen. Yet life demands we carry on in the meantime, each day slipping by and leaving things undone, words unsaid, and life unlived. And time? Well, time doesn't care. It keeps flying, keeps marching on, an endless cycle of seconds, minutes, hours, days, and years.

For us, though, there's one fact that makes a universe of difference: God created time. If He created it, then He stands outside of it. God isn't ruled by the clock like we are; He can stop all of them if He wanted to. And that gives us our picture of eternity: existence not bounded by time, something that will go on forever because the minute hand never advances, the calendar page never turns. For the Christian, it will be full and complete joy with our Master as the ages roll on unheeded in the perfect new creation.

Join us in the land where time doesn't fly.