I had lunch today with some people, one of whom told us about his history of heart problems. Bill has endured two major heart surgeries and can’t work because of the damage to his heart muscle. He told us that at one point during his most recent heart attack, while he was being pumped with nitroglycerin and morphine in an attempt to reduce his pain and keep him alive, the doctor told him:

“According to all of my training, and what I know, and what I’m seeing, you have about five minutes to live. If you feel inclined to make peace with your God, I’d suggest that you do it right now.” Bill decided that it would be a good idea to follow his doctor’s advice right then, and thought,
“God, thank you for the life you’ve given me. If this is my time to go, I’m ready.”

As soon as he had finished that “prayer,” the pain from the heart attack ended. “Doc, the pain is gone,” Bill exclaimed. “Are you B…s..ing me?” the doctor replied. Bill wasn’t kidding, and in the decade since that near-death experience in 1998, he has continued to live his life as though God has him here for a purpose.

If you were told that you only had five minutes left to live, would you be at peace? If you then learned that the Grim Reaper wasn’t making a house call that day after all, how would you want to spend the minutes, hours, days, weeks and months that could follow?

All of our days are numbered; let’s make them count.