August 31, 2016

With some time to relax, I sat in a comfortable chair with a cup of coffee and stared at the beauty of nature. I cherished the opportunity for a peaceful moment without any pressing assignments or deadlines.

My eyes turned to the coffee cup. Steam vapor that was swirling inside the cup rose quickly upward and then was gone. The only evidence that it was ever present was a picture of it in my memory.

I thought of James 4:14, where it says that our life is just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Compared to the vanishing vapor in my coffee cup, I have been around for quite a while. But in light of forever, even a life of a hundred years or more is as brief as vapor.

During our younger years, most people give little thought to the vapor principle. James 4:14 has little relevance when life is focused on school, career, marriage and trying to sort out the excellent from so many good possibilities. But as we add decades to our life journey, we realize how quickly time is vanishing away.

My eyes saw and my mind captured those coffee cup vapors, resulting in a vivid memory. I suppose we could say those vapors have a legacy in my mind with continuing influence today. I wonder what anyone else sees and captures in their mind from the vapor of my life. What memory is making a difference in someone’s choices today – for good or for evil – that was influenced by me?

Time goes by so quickly and at the end of the day, I sometimes wonder if I just filled the space or actually completed the mission for which God placed me on Planet Earth during this day.

I like my coffee, but it has been a while since I sat alone and pondered the vapor coming out of the cup as it disappeared. It was a good use of time to develop a proper “vapor mindset” – I think it might be called “Sabbath.”

Pastor Bill Ehmann