A True Deadline

  Just minutes after the court's lethal-injection case was accepted, lawyers for Michael Richard, who was scheduled to die that evening, rushed to file a stay with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeal and promised delivery by 5:20 p.m. The court clerk responded, "We close at 5"; the petition didn't make it, and Richard was executed at 8:23.  If only he had twenty more minutes. But in reality he had that time.  The time before he had committed his crime. The time before he made the decisions that led him to death row. We always cry about, pardon the pun,  the deadline as it comes due, but never think about all the moments we were given before it.  

  It reminds me of what Paul writes in Romans 2:4, “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” God is patience with us wanting all to repent (2 Peter3:9) but don’t mistake patience with acceptance. When the time comes to face the judgment we can’t expect any new time to “fix” our misdeeds. We need to prepare ourselves today for eternity.