Treasures in Heaven – August 27, 2015
High School Division Head Blog – August 27, 2015
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. – Matthew 6:20-21
This past weekend I had the opportunity to visit my parents back in my hometown of Mandeville. I am the youngest of three, and we have always been a very close-knit family. I am grateful for that every day. It is always a good time to catch up with my parents, and I wish I could visit with them more in the midst of all the busy-ness of life.
On this particular visit, my mom took me to the attic and asked me to look through a few things that were taking up too much space in my parents’ home. I rummaged through multiple boxes of old notebooks and binders from high school and college. I actually kept every assignment, quiz, math problem, and note I ever took throughout my high school and college education. The papers were browned with age, and the work in which I had poured so many exhausting hours was now a distant memory. After a fleeting moment of nostalgia, I gave my mom my blessing to throw it all out. I figured if the Smithsonian has not called by now, I guess they never will.
Before I headed back down the stairs, my mom pointed to a large black chest sitting in the corner and asked me to take a look. She opened up the chest, and to my amazement there were all of my childhood sports trophies in all their glimmering plastic glory. A flood of memories came rushing into my mind … from the old Harbor Field where I won three baseball league championships as a kid to the now deflated basketball with “Coach’s Award” inscribed upon it. For a brief moment I went back to “The Glory Days,” in the words of Bruce Springsteen. It was quite a trip down memory lane!
But then reality quickly set in. I was now just staring at a collection of old, dusty plastic memories from the past that I had actually completely forgotten about. The incredible joy and pride these trophies had once brought me as a youth was now nothing more than a barely audible whisper from my past. The things that I treasured most and proudly displayed as a kid were now just a fire hazard in my parents’ attic. For a brief moment I thought about scooping up those trophies in my arms as I envisioned them sitting atop the shelves in my living room for my children to admire. Two problems with that scenario – that precious collection would never make it past the doorstep under my wife’s watchful eye, and besides, I didn’t really have much use for them anyway.
On the way home that night, I began to reflect upon the “trophies” I have collected in my adult life … the things that are truly important to me now. While my high school days are still some of the best days of my life, I wouldn’t trade them for one lazy Sunday afternoon with my wife and three girls. But what has truly become most important to me is my relationship with Jesus Christ. As the days of my life swiftly pass by, I am realizing more and more how deep and how wide His love is for me. James 4:14 -What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
At PBS, we strongly encourage your children to work hard every day so they can move on to college and become successful doctors, lawyers, teachers, community and business leaders. Those are all noble pursuits. But when the last grains of sand fall on our lives, the material treasures and accomplishments that we have collected along the way will fall along the wayside. As Solomon so simply proclaimed, our most noble pursuit on this earth is to know God and enjoy Him forever (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
When we understand our eternal purpose, it is only then that we truly realize His great love for us. We want your children to have great success in all of their endeavors due to the solid education they receive at PBS, but our ultimate goal is to one day have a big PBS Homecoming in Heaven in the presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That’s a day I long for, and I pray that is the heart’s desire of each and every one of our PBS Eagles. To Him be the glory.
I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead…. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 3:10-11, 14