James 4:14 says, &8220;…You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.&8221;

Although at the time I didn&8217;t know it, God really began opening my eyes to the principle in this verse when I was 16 years old.

I was a sophomore in high school and excited about pole vaulting at my first state track meet. My dad pole vaulted at Troy State and passed the trade down to me.

I loved it. It was like flying through the air without wings. I was jumping on a new pole, and everything about the vault changes when you use a different pole. I wasn&8217;t prepared for the change. I sprinted down the runway, planted the pole into the box and soared into the air. I woke up in an ambulance being rushed to the hospital.

I had fallen from about 13 feet to the mat and landed on my head suffering a severe concussion with several cuts on my body.

The fall could have easily killed me but it didn&8217;t. I left the hospital two days later with a couple of scars and soreness, but overall I was OK. God had mercy on me, a wicked sinner.

I didn&8217;t deserve to live. He showed me that I wasn&8217;t invincible. I realized that, in the words of J. Oswald Sanders, &8220;Each day is a gift from God that deserves great care, for by any measure our time is short and our work is great.&8221;

God began to open my eyes to see that I could not waste my life. It had to be lived to glorify Him. I could not waste it on things that did not matter or were of little importance in the big scheme of things.

He&8217;s still teaching me that today. God willing, I have maybe 50 years left. I want my life to be devoted to knowing God and making Him known and spreading a passion for that among the Briarwood College Community.

It&8217;s the only thing that can keep my attention for a lifetime.

Let&8217;s join the apostle Paul as he said in Acts 20:24, &8220;I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given to me &8212; the task of testifying to the gospel of God&8217;s grace.&8221;

Justin Harris serves as the Briarwood College community pastor