Reflection on Exodus 17:8-13, with apologies to Moses.

In those days, Cancer came and waged war against Phil's brain. Phil Bruce therefore said to his medical posse, "Pick out the best you have--surgeons, nurses, therapists, med techs, hematologists, cardiologists, radiologists--and go out and engage Cancer in battle. I will be standing on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."

So the posse did as Phil told them: they engaged Cancer in battle after Phil had climbed to the top of the hill with his family Norma, Bob, Phoebe and Mark. As long as Phil kept his hands raised up, his body had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, the Cancer had the better of the fight.

Phil's hands grew tired so they put a rock, his church, in place for him to sit on. Meanwhile, his family, extended family and close friends--Ron, Keith, Carl, Tom, John, Sara, and many others-- supported his hands, some on one side, some on the other side so he remained steady till sunset. And the medical posse mowed down the Cancer and tumors with the edge of medical miracles swords.

What is time?

Book XI of St. Augustine is devoted to an extraordinarily subtle analysis of the nature of time and the relation of time to creation.  “What then is time?  If no one asks me, I know what it is.  If I wish to explain it to him who asks me, I do not know.” His analysis of time arrives at the conclusion that time is an aspect of created being, and that, consequently, in the uncreated being of God time has no effective reality. In God and God’s consciousness there is no change, no before or after, but only an eternal present.  (Masterpieces of Christian literature in summary form, ed. Frank N. Magill, Harper & Row, 1963. p. 132-133.

“By the time of Augustine, the Church had settled down in Roman society.  The Christian’s worst enemies could no longer be placed outside him; they were inside, his sins and his doubts; and the climax of a man’s life would not be martyrdom, but conversion from the perils of his own past.”  Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo; a biography. Faber & Faber, 1967. p. 159

Our pastor, Brodie Taphorn, preached this past Sunday on "You have too much to do" part of the sermon series "What to do when. . .insights from ordinary people of the Old Testament."  The scripture launch was Exodus 18:18-23,  but he supplied background from surrounding verses, and the second reading was from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. Jethro gives advice to his son-in-law Moses on how to manage the huge load of responsibility--delegate as we say today.  Brodie addressed the busyness of the modern culture, how most Christians respond, and suggestions from the text.

After the sermon and during the "meet and greet" I told Brodie I was probably the only person he knew who says, "I'm never busy." I almost never have to much to do.  So I offered to write him a note about it, but I'm still working on it. And I think St. Augustine has some of the answers on how we use time.

For me, my non-theological take is that in the English language we use all the same verbs with time that we use with money; invest it, use it, spend it, save it, plan for it, waste it, hoard it, borrow it, lose it, and in the end, you "cash it in" because there is no use for it outside our created world.  As Augustine says time is also a creation of God.  Me?  I tend toward the hoard and save, so I usually have a lot in the bank, but I'm not so good at the spending part, particularly using my time for the Kingdom.