Our bucket list

Barbara and I saw the movie “The Bucket List” the other night, and found it to be a fairly uplifting tale of two men with terminal cancer resolved to doing all the things they had not done but really wanted to do. Jack Nicholson plays his ornery self absorbed usual character and Morgan Freeman is the voice of virtue and faith. Yet the actual “bucket list” of “to dos” with the exception for one small sacrificing act is a list of self-serving thrills.

The movie does cause one to contemplate what our own bucket list would be. I found myself realizing that I have already done most of the things I would want to put on my list. Because of missions, I’ve been to places and shared the Gospel with people of all types. I have been blessed to be able to live out my calling and experience incredible things for Christ.

And I also thought about how different that list would be written by a follower of Christ as opposed to one who has no faith or one with nominal faith. If we are living out our calling, as we Christians should, then shouldn’t we complete our “bucket list” long before we reach the end of our lives. We should not have to rush out in the last few months to fulfill our lives.

I love Grace Point because we are so encouraged to fulfill our life calling every day. We all have been given such a great opportunity to invest in the lives of others. That should be on all of our “bucket lists”. We are given opportunities to go places all over the world and experience God’s wonders, His people and His kingdom. How much greater it is to travel to places, live, serve, worship together and get to know the indigenous peoples of the world than just sightseeing. And we have so rich a community of believers and life groups in which to build lasting relationships.

A great line in the movie by Morgan Freeman’s character…“Even now I cannot understand the measure of a life, but I can tell you this. I know that when he died, his eyes were closed and his heart was open”.

I pray you are fulfilling your bucket list all along life’s journey and that you don’t have to wait until the end of your life for you to experience a life with a heart wide open.