today

 Today it's raining. It's one of those days I'd like to just stay on the couch, horizontally, and put off a number of things, but Friday's coming and we head west on Friday. I've got some things to get ready, things to pack, a few more things to fix, and a couple of things to buy. The benefits of not putting off are . . . I will sleep better tonight, tomorrow won't be as busy and rushed, and I'll have the satisfaction of things well-done and/or checked off of the list. Today was a good day.

PEOPLE WRITE ABOUT TODAY

"Don't let yesterday take up too much of today." -Will Rogers

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is God's gift, that's why we call it the present." -Joan Rivers

"This is a wonderful day. I've never seen this one before." -Maya Angelou

"Today is all we have, tomorrow is a mirage that may never become reality." -Louis L'Amour

"Yesterday's home runs do not win today's games." -Babe Ruth

PEOPLE SING ABOUT TODAY

I can't be contented with yesterday's glory
I can't live on promises winter to spring
Today is my moment and now is my story
I'll laugh and I'll cry and I'll sing -New Christy Minstrels (years ago).

Hold tight to the sounds of the music of living
Happy songs from the laughter of the children at play
Hold my hand as we run
Through the sweet fragrant meadows
Making memories of what was today

We have this moment to hold in our hands
And to touch as it slips
Through our fingers like sand
Yesterday's gone
And tomorrow may never come
But we have this moment today

Tender words
Gentle touch and a good cup of coffee
And someone who loves me
And wants me to stay
Hold them near while they're here, oh
And don't wait for tomorrow
To look back and wish for this day

We all have this moment today -Bill Gaither

And I don't know about tomorrow
Right now the whole world is right
And the memory of a day like today

Can get you through the rest of your life -Brad Paisley

PEOPLE MAKE CHOICES TODAY

Yesterday, my pastor preached from Hebrews 3:7-19. His focus was on TODAY. In his sermon he used as an illustration a message by D. L. Moody:

On Sunday night, October 8, 1871, the well-known evangelist, D. L. Moody, preached to the largest congregation he had yet addressed in Chicago. His text that evening was, "What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?" (from Matthew 27:22), and at the conclusion of his sermon he said, "I wish you would take this text home with you and turn it over in your minds during the week, and next Sabbath we will come to Calvary and the Cross, and we will decide what to do with Jesus of Nazareth. Then his song evangelist, Ira D. Sankey whose hymns are sprinkled through most evangelical hymn books, began to lead in singing the hymn,

Today the Savior call; 
For refuge fly;
The storm of justice falls,
And death is nigh.

But Sankey never finished the hymn, for while he was singing, the rush and roar of fire engines whistled by the church on the streets outside, and before morning much of the city of Chicago lay in ashes. To his dying day, Mr. Moody regretted that he had told that congregation to come next Sabbath and decide what to do with Jesus. "I have never since dared," he said, "to give an audience a week to think about their salvation. If they were lost they might rise up in judgment against me. I have never seen that congregation since. But I want to tell you of one lesson I learned that night which I have not forgotten, and that is, when I preach, to press Christ upon the people then and there and try to bring them to a decision on the spot. I would rather have that right hand cut off than to give an audience a week to decide what to do with Jesus."

The  thing about todays is once they're gone, they're gone, and they go one at a time. We can't change anything. We can look at pictures and wish, but that won't change anything or bring anyone back. Those todays are now unchangeable yesterdays. Memories. Some good and, without a doubt, some bad. 

Lord willing, this Friday Margaret and I will again be on our way to Washington State. Every day of our journey will be a today or a yesterday. We can talk about tomorrows but we're never sure we''ll have another one. So as we travel, whether on foot, in the car, or on two wheels, I plan on taking just one day at a time, today. And, even as I pedal, I plan on holding fast, pedaling slow, and soaking up every today.

Today. Don't let it slip. We have this moment . . . today.