Getting Ahead: ‘An expiration date’

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When I was in school there were dreaded timed tests that only allowed us a given amount of time to complete them. It just seemed to add another level of stress to the testing procedure but they were designed to make us more proficient. I found that if I was prepared for the test, the stress of time was much less and I was finished before the time expired.

Now I get coupons from various companies that have an expiration date on them. They have value so I lay them on my desk thinking that I will use them before they expire. They lay there and I don’t even notice that they have expired until I receive another coupon from the same company. I then look at the one that has been on my desk for a month only to discover that the time is up. I replace the expired coupon with the current one and the process seems to start all over again. On one occasion I decided that I would remember the coupon if I placed it in my vehicle. To my dismay the same thing happened except that it had been expired for a year before I noticed it.

The expression: “Time stands still for no one” has been proven time and again in my life. That expression became very real to me when I failed to notice the expiration date on a milk container. The outcome was sickening. There seems always to be the possibility of putting something up, thinking it can be done later, only to forget about it until it is too late to be taken care of.

It is possible that life offers us advantages that we let slip by because they have an expiration date? Would the company that sent me the coupons let me redeem them even if they had expired or would I be wasting my time to try to use them? Do we put issues that are in our life on the shelf, so to speak, and forget that they are there? Do we try to deal with things that have turned bad and all we get is grief? If the milk has expired, do we drink it or pour it out and get a fresh container?

These and other life questions will be addressed Sunday morning as “The Gathering Place Family” meets in the Washington Junior High School Library for Bible Study at 9:30 and in the gymnasium at 10 a.m. for our Pre-Service Connection where we enjoy coffee, juice and donuts. Our Worship Service and Children’s Church then begins at 10:30. Come at 7 p.m. and be part of our Wednesday night Bible Study and Children’s Ministry on the third floor above Trends at 120 W. Court St. in Washington Court House.

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By John G. Pfeifer

Religion Columnist

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