With life we have various ways we can live.

Recklessness. Conformity. 

Wherever you find yourself, living life is up to you. I see life more often than not in three ways: Past, Present, Future. With this in mind, I will explain why I live the way I do right now using several people that have greatly impacted me to this day.

Past – I seem to refer to certain people in my life more dominantly than others, but it comes from the familiarity and intimacy I have with them. For example, my dad. Tom Parke is one of the greatest people to ever walk the earth. The more I grow up I see how amazing he was as I was growing up under his direct care. He loved me in the most tangible ways and because of my present understanding how love was, I see clearly how the past has brought me to this point today. He sacrificed so much for my family that I don’t mind sacrificing certain things if it will do more good. I am not what he has been to me, but I hope to be that way in the future more and more everyday.

Present – This writing comes from a helpful hint from a great guy, Scott. He encouraged me to “Stop and Smell the Roses” occasionally from the pace of life I lead. Scott in himself is a story of how awesome God’s love can change a person. When I moved down to Miami last year, he was seeking God in a intellectual way, but now I continue to see him seek God in personal ways. Through serving in church to being genuine in his relationships with his girlfriend and friends, his present day change is a hope I have for students and people that I work with on a daily basis.

Future – Some of you may know that I had a friend that I grew up with back home recently commit suicide. We were not the greatest friends, but we knew each other from church and school. His mom was always so encouraging to me whenever I was back home from college and the fact that because her son had lost hope in life has been ripping me apart lately. I do not know the state of his heart with God at the time that he took his life, but the thing that disturbs me in my sleep and keeps me from sleeping well is that in the book of Revelation in the 20th chapter John writes that at the culmination of God’s wrath, those whose names are not found in the Lamb’s Book of Life will be “tormented day and night forever and ever.” I am so scared for the future that awaits people who do not know the truth about Jesus and if people lose hope in life by not following Jesus then that is what will happen at the end. 

To end, for those who follow Jesus, remember His words when it comes to the way He lived His life. Think about who you hang out with a majority of the time. Jesus came to people who didn’t know Him. Do we do that? Are we reaching out to them, or at the very least training up people to do it? Jesus had a mission and it was for a certain group of people, the sick. “”Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous but sinners.” – Mark 2:17