This is a John Wayne-ism… “… let’s go, we’re Burning Daylight!”

He coined the phrase in one of his old western movies, The Cowboys, released in 1972.

We had a professor in the Geology Department that grabbed hold of it. It also fit him to a T.

This saying is offered as encouragement to keep moving forward and doing good through each day… “For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.” Psalm 100:5

Lots of people worldwide gave thought and prayer yesterday to the events of 9/11. Where were you on that day? Everyone remembers. For me, another story began on 9/11… a new employee named Mark Enge started work in my office. Mark was brought in hand by a friend to me as he needed work… a self-employed window washer who found himself in a jam… just diagnosed with cancer, a lump on his lung that the doctors could not remove, he was not physically able to safely climb a ladder any more.

Burning Daylight… Mark knew it well… he made the most of every single day. Every Thursday he would stop by the office on his way to St. Vincent’s Medical Center, a short two-block walk from the office. His weekly dose of Chemo followed. He did not look forward to it. The chemo would knock him down for a couple of days. We would see him again on Monday, smiling and ready to go. Monday’s were a happy day for Mark.

The interesting part of Mark’s story was that when he arrived I thought of him as one of my people projects… someone who was brought along that I would help out… we literally made up stuff for him to do… running errands, etc… we taught him to do field work… but we really did the hard work, he just came along and handed us the hand auger. But here’s the kicker… Mark wasn’t one of my people projects… I was one of His people projects! Mark showed up for a reason no doubt… but, for me, Mark was there to do God’s work in my life. The other people working in my office at the time will tell you the same thing. Mark had a lasting impression on each and every one of us… we saw him live by faith every day… until the very end… “Burning Daylight” was not an option in Mark’s world… he knew Jesus and gave us hope and strengthened our faith.

God has a perfect plan for each and every one of us…

I want to know Jesus…

I want to stick with the plan… His perfect plan.

Where were you on 9/11?