Timeout!

Timeout! In sports, it’s a term that expresses a team’s desire to momentarily stop the normal progression of the game so that some important or urgent adjustment can be communicated and implemented. From a child’s perspective, the term usually indicates impending punishment, or at the very least, the halting of events by some authority figure. But what might “timeout” mean to adults?

Tell the truth, does life ever come at you so fast that you want to shout timeout! ? Do you ever want to halt events—stop the normal progression of events so you can catch your breath and make adjustments? I’ve been there more than once and I think we all reach that point from time to time; some sooner than others and some more frequently than others.

A guy named Bob Buford wrote a book several years back titled Half Time. I found it during one of those times when I wanted to call timeout. It’s a quick read and one I gladly recommend (but do note that it is written to men from a man’s perspective). Anyway, Buford, speaking from personal experience, describes a change that occurs in many men (and women) when they come to realize the clock is running on this lifetime. Speaking from a mid-life perspective he says, “If the first half was a quest for success, the second half is a journey to significance.”

And just what is significance? Is it gaining more money and stuff? Does the person with the most toys win? Is significance finally getting that coveted degree or job? Is significance symbolized by a new car or boat? Is significance reached by garnering the admiration of your family and friends? Hmm... While none of these things are necessarily evil or bad in their own right, let me suggest that significance is both simpler and grander.

Significance is enduring and is achieved one step at a time. You might say that it is the imprint you leave with your passing. What does your imprint look like? As Sinclair Ferguson commented recently, “It’s what people think of you when you’ve left the room that’s important.” What do people think of you when you’ve left the room?

Now let me suggest this. Whatever your circumstance or calling live your life—one day at a time—for the glory of God and significance will be yours. Be a homemaker for the glory of God. Be a dad for the glory of God. Sell cars for the glory of God. Be a friend for the glory of God. Be a public servant for the glory of God.

Live your life so that when you’ve left the room people will think of you as one who lived each day for the glory of God and significance will be yours.

Ken Askew