"Billions upon billions of years are just a blink,
a snap of the finger, in the context of eternity"
-- Fr. Larry Richards

This quote above is from a story that Fr. Larry Richards told this past weekend at the Steubenville Mid-America Youth Conference at Springfield, MO. The story that he told was of a giant where each movement of his took 10,000 years and this giant takes one grain of sand and walks to the top of Mt. Everest and places it there and he continues to do this until all the sand from all around the Earth are on the mountain. Each step was 10,000 years, each time he bent over pick up a grain of sand was 10,000 years and so on. And Fr. Larry ended by saying that it would take billions upon billions of years for this to happen and then that all that time is but a blink compared to eternity.

The reason I'm telling this story is tell another one. One of the several things that I took away from this Conference was that Jesus gave his life to us, and all he asks in return is our life. What do these two things have in common? Jesus is God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, he is eternal. We are mere creations, mortal, we consider a long life 70 years or longer, and if the billions upon billions of years that the giant took placing the sand at the top of the mountain is but a blink in eternity what does that make our time? The point is that Jesus gave us His life (eternity) in exchange for our life (finite, mortal). Talk about a great exchange rate.

If we put these terms into finite measurements and liken eternity to $100 billion (I know there is no comparison between anything finite and infinite, just bare with me) and our life to a penny. Jesus is telling you he will give you $100 billion and all he asks for in return is your $0.01.

The catch is we must give our life to Him just as He gave His life to us, because He will not take what is not offered, one of my friends says it best "God is a lover not a rapist" he offers everything He is to us but will only take what is given; He will never steal anything from us.

Lord, I know I'm not worthy of Your life, help me to give my life and all that I am to You, not because it is my will but beacause it is what You ask of me.
Lord, I believe in You, help my disbeleif.
Lord, I trust in You, help my mistrust.