Time is precious, people are precious

A few months ago our future son-in-law, Matt, was surprised to see a magazine called "New Wine" lying on our coffee table. He said to Steph, "I though that your parents were teetotal?" In fact New Wine has nothing to do with alcohol, rather it is a network of churches and believers across all denominations who share similar values of Holy Spirit empowered worship, teaching and ministry.

For the past few years, Sue and I have attended the New Wine Leaders Conference in Harrogate, and will be doing so again later this month. At last year's conference, we were asked to pray particularly for a situation which had arisen in the family of one of the New Wine leaders, Mark Melluish. Mark's young son had fallen 20 feet off a balcony, and his life hung in the balance. In the latest New Wine magazine, Mark writes the following:

The refrain that went through my mind as I stood over his limp little body was: "Why didn't I play football with him when he asked for a kick around this morning?" I had responded with "Not now son I'm really busy." Everything within me wished that I had kicked a ball around with him for 15 minutes. We're so thankful that he's now almost fully recovered."

Then I read the following in a recent Care For The Family e-mail: You have fewer than 1,000 weekends between your children being born and them turning 18. If your child is 9 years old, you have less than half of those weekends left. So, make the most of [every] opportunity to build an even better relationship with your child.

Sadly, I can remember occasions, when our children were young, when they wanted to talk and I preferred them to be quiet so I could watch a favourite TV programme! How sad it is when we neglect precious opportunities to spend quality time with those closest to us - our family and friends. The sobering thing is, we can never get that time back. As for me, I am determined to redouble my efforts to make the most of every opportunity. Some things in life really are important!