This week I’ve been thinking a lot about a dear friend and sorority sister of mine. This week marks the 1-year anniversary of her death. Emmie Anderson Wisniewski died at the age of 33. She’d been married just over a year and was pregnant with her first child. Emmie is an LSU alum, and I met her when I was a freshman at LSU. She was full of life and very instrumental in me coming to faith in Christ while at LSU.
As I’ve thought back this week about Emmie’s life and even her memorial service, it’s reminded me of what really matters in life. See, Emmie always made time for people----she loved people well and took the time to care for people. Sorority members could often find notes in their boxes from Emmie, she would pop in girl’s room just to talk and ask about their day, and she laughed a lot. Boy did Emmie know how to laugh!
I still remember sitting on my bed in the sorority house and asking Emmie what was the difference between God and Jesus and her explaining to me how Jesus died so that we could have a relationship with God. Emmie explained to me that Jesus rescued us from our sins that had caused the separation between us and God. Emmie wasn’t afraid to talk about her faith. She wasn’t afraid to stand out.
Emmie had a passion for country music and everyone knew it. After graduating from LSU, she moved to Nashville to pursue her dream of working in the marketing department of a major country music firm. Her zeal and passion for life and God continued and many more lives were touched. At her memorial service over 1,000 people attended to CELEBRATE her life and share the ways that Emmie had impacted their lives. Women shared how Emmie would stop what she was doing and pray for them. Others shared how Emmie would find out they didn’t have a Bible and she would go and buy them one and give it to them and then teach them how to study the Word of God. Others shared how she led them into a personal relationship with Christ. And many people shared about Emmie’s laugh and joy for life. Lee Ann Womack, a famous country singer, capped off the service by singing, “I Hope You Dance” as a celebration of how Emmie lived her life here on earth.
Obviously people were sad regarding the death of Emmie, but honestly people were celebrating her life and rejoicing in the knowledge that Emmie is with Jesus in heaven because of her faith in Him. She is in a far better place than any of us. See, Emmie made her life count while she was here on this earth. There are 3 things that will last forever: God, His Word, and the souls of people. Emmie took time while here on earth to invest in things that would last. Are you taking time to invest in those three things that will last? If so, you are truly storing up treasures in heaven. Matthew 6:19-21
With tears in my eyes as I type and reflect, I hope we are drawn to live as Emmie did---investing our time in getting to know God, spending time in His Word, and investing in the souls of people. “The greatest use of one’s life is to spend it for something that will outlast it, for the value of life is computed not by its duration, but by its donation.” William James
Post by:
2009-10-11 16:57:05
All too often in my Christian walk I find myself wrapped up in the business of doing spiritual things, and then somewhere in the middle of a hectic stretch of days I realize that I'm irritable, joyless, and borderline burned out. It is a frustrating place to be when 80% of my daily conversations are laced with Biblical references, spiritual truths or theological tidbits, but in my heart I experience only a remnant of the promises that my own mouth propagates.
That's where I was last week...dry as a bone. Then, with the help of a recommended podcast, a thought crossed my mind: "try talking to Jesus."
In John 5, Jesus (to some Pharisees) says, "...you study the Scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life...but you refuse to come to me, that you may have life." I can't tell you how many times I've read this verse from a posture of piety, siding with Jesus and jeering at the Pharisees' inability to see Jesus for who he really is. But reading it last week was wild. Suddenly, I was a Pharisee and my "Scriptures" stretched far beyond the boundary of my morning quiet time, spilling into my community group, preparation, music, and every other aspect of my involvement at the Chapel. In a moment of clarity, I realized that I have developed a terrible habit of replacing knowing Jesus for doing the things I think He wants me to do. The problem isn't my "Scriptures," it's my tendency to look to them as the source of life and fulfillment while neglecting a daily habit of laying my life before Jesus and looking to Him to be my answer.
Last week was another reminder that it is so easy to move out of fellowship with my Savior. It's really easy to get caught up in the work load and to miss out on the tasting and seeing part for myself.
If this resonates with you, and only you know if it does, you can do one of two things: continue doing what you're doing, talking about Jesus and fixing it yourself...or, try talking to Jesus.
Post by:
2009-10-08 08:26:08
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