March 29th, 2007

Yesterday was Thursday, March 29th, 2007. There is nothing extraordinary about this day. My grandchildren will not be required to memorize this date for a history test. It was just a day.

In the Kansas City Star, front page:
+ A mob killing spree killed at least 60 people in Tal Afar, Iraq.
+ The Kaiser Family Foundation released a study that reveals disturbing truths about the relationship between television advertising and childhood obesity.

Second page:
+ A museum is about to open in Petersburg, Kentucky whose website features this teaser: “Other surprises are just around the corner. Adam and apes share the same birthday. The first man walked with dinosaurs and named them all! God’s Word is true, or evolution is true. No millions of years. There’s no room for compromise.”
+ James Dobson said of Senator Fred Thomson, “I don’t think he’s a Christian; at least that’s my impression.”

Third page:
+ In the last two years, three newborn babies have been abandoned in Orosi, California, apparently all by the same mother. The first two survived; the third died.

Page fifteen:
+ United States soldiers are going to be returning to deployment in Iraq after being home for less than a year, in order to support the latest increase.
+ U.S. ally Saudi Arabia has called our nation’s presence in Iraq “an illegitimate foreign occupation.”

Back page:
+ Iran and Great Britain cannot seem to agree about whether or not British sailors were in Iranian waters or Iraqi waters when they boarded a merchant vessel and were captured, a point of contention which has created international tension.

And so on.

So that’s March 29th, 2007. Oh, there was other stuff happening, too. I admit that I picked and chose stories for effect. Feel free to compile your own list.

The point is, what if we selected March 29th, 2007 as a snapshot of life on the third rock from the sun? What if aliens were in orbit on March 29th, 2007, and used their superior technology to observe this world for that day, in order to learn all they could about the planet’s inhabitants? (By the way, no aliens, as far as I could tell, are included in the exhibits in the aforementioned museum. Dinosaurs walked the earth with humans, but extraterrestrial life is out of bounds, it seems.)

Ask yourself: What am I doing to make this world a better place?

March 29th, 2007 was just a day, but every day is “just a day.” In fact, all we have is today. Yesterday is over and tomorrow is no guarantee. All we have is now.

Do you remember that Bible story where Mary broke open the jar of expensive perfume and poured it all over Jesus’ feet? In response to the protests of the other disciples, Jesus said, “Leave her alone. It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” (John 12)

Mary understood something about the present moment that the disciples didn’t get. Her act of extravagance was not wasteful, as the other disciples thought. It was a celebration of right now.

Yesterday and Tomorrow are in God’s hands; all we can do is live today. What kind of day will today be?