The Achievement of a Lifetime
Copyright © October 1, 2024 by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
All Rights Reserved.
Introduction
Periodically during our lives almost all of us will occasionally stop and we will thoughtfully consider the things that we have done that we can be proud of.
And most of us also take the time to consider some other things that we would still like to do before we die.
Since there are so many different life paths that a person could follow, there is also a tremendous variety in the types of things that each one of us may be proud of. For example, one person may be proud that they saved enough money to buy a home. And another person may be proud that they have become a manager at their place of employment. And another person may be proud that they received a medal of heroism for some unselfish act of bravery. And another person may be proud that they were able to feed, clothe, and provide medical care for their entire family.
As the years continue to pass, most of us attend more and more funerals of the people that we knew when were young, and the funerals of some of the people in our extended families. Those funerals impact each one of us in different ways. But after the funeral is over most of us continue with our normal daily lives. And except for a very close family member, or a very close friend, most of us do not give any more thought to the departed person after the funeral is over.
For example, please consider the following three people who were all members of my family and who I still remember in the year 2024.
- Claude David Nickels: He was my mother's father. He built a three-story brick home with four bedrooms, two baths, and a two-car garage when he was in his late fifties during the years of 1953 and 1954. He did most of the work himself but he used contractors for some of the work, such as pouring the cement walls for an underground garage. That house is still standing in the year 2024 and the house is in good condition because each of the families who have bought it have taken care of it. But except for my brother, my sister, and myself, nobody remembers that my grandfather built that house with his own hands.
- Lieutenant Colonel Donald Randolph Nickels: He was my mother's brother. He served in the USA Army during World War II and during the Korean War. He was awarded a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, and Four Oak Leaf Clusters. He was wounded a total of three times during World War II and the Korean War. He retired after serving 20 years in the military. When he returned home to the USA he was killed by a drunk driver. He was not married and he had no children. Except for my brother, my sister, and myself, nobody remembers my uncle.
- Jason Lester Atkins: He was my father. He was a gunner on a Navy airplane during World War II. After the war my father became a very successful sales manager and all the salesmen in Washington, D.C. and in four of the southern states in the USA reported to him. He retired at the age of 61. Approximately five years after he retired, he had been almost completely forgotten by everyone in the company where he had worked for more than 30 years.
Now please consider the following three questions:
- What was the name of the 12th president of the USA?
- Which baseball team won the World Series in the year 1959?
- What was the name of the person who discovered penicillin?
Would you consider the above achievements to be significant?
How many of the above questions did you know the answer to?
The answers to the above three questions appear at the end of this article.
The Holy Bible contains another interesting example as follows:
Ecclesiastes 9:14-15 (New International Version)
14 There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it.
15 Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man.
The remainder of this article will briefly consider the topic of "the achievement of a lifetime."
Discussion
Most of us rarely have the time to reflect on what we have done in the past because we are usually overwhelmed with the work that we must do on a daily basis. Most of us have jobs, and a family to support, and bills to pay. At the end of a normal day we are usually exhausted and all we really want is to get a decent night of sleep.
However, on rare occasions we may pause and think about our past and about our future.
When we think about all the problems we have faced in the past then we are usually amazed that we are still alive today.
When we think about the future we usually realize that right now we are closer to the day of our death than we were just one year ago. This thought is not a pleasant one so most of us dismiss the thought as quickly as we can and we force ourselves to think about something more pleasant.
But let's stop and think about death for just a few minutes. Eventually everyone dies. Some people die as infants, some die as teenagers, some die in their forties, and some die in their nineties. But eventually we all die. And those of us that are intellectually honest with ourselves realize that we will be forgotten by almost everyone shortly after our death with the exception of our immediate family and some of our very close friends. And seventy years after our death all of these people will also have died and we will be completely forgotten. This is a very disturbing thought. But it doesn't need to be.
If we believe in the God of the Holy Bible then at some time during our life we may have heard that Jesus Christ was crucified on a Friday to pay for the sins of everyone, including Adam and Eve and you and me. To verify that Jesus was really dead, a soldier thrust his spear through Jesus' side and into Jesus' heart. Then Jesus was buried in a nearby tomb that resembled a cave. A huge stone was rolled across the only entrance into that tomb and soldiers were assigned to guard the tomb 24 hours a day for three days. On Sunday morning at the break of day an angel appeared and rolled the stone away. The soldiers were terrified and they fell to the ground and they pretended to be dead. Jesus walked out of that tomb and Jesus was alive. Jesus had conquered death. For forty days Jesus appeared to more than 500 people and then He ascended up into heaven and His disciples watched Him disappear into the clouds. Two angels appeared and they told the disciples the following:
Acts 1:11 (New International Version)
11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."
If you had been standing there beside Jesus' disciples, and if you had seen Jesus ascend up into the clouds, and if you had heard what the angels said, then would you be curious about what Jesus intends to do when He returns to the earth one day in the future?
If you want to know the answer then please continue reading.
Conclusion
John 14:1-3 (King James Version)
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place fro you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
John 11:25-26 (King James Version)
25 I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
Romans 10:9-10 (New King James Version)
9 "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
Joel 2:32 and Acts 2:21 and Romans 10:13 (New King James Version)
32 "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 (New International Version)
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.
Philippians 3:20-21 (New International Version)
20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
1 John 3:2 (New International Version)
2 But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
John 10:27-30 (New International Version)
27 "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.
30 I and the Father are one."
At the beginning of this article I briefly mentioned the achievement of a lifetime.
The most important achievement of your entire life will be to believe in Jesus Christ and to accept Him as your Savior. If you will do this then when you die you will be welcomed by Jesus into your eternal home in paradise and you will never be forgotten.
May God Bless,
Grandpappy.
Answers to the Three Questions at the Beginning of this Article:
- The 12th President of the USA: Zachary Taylor was born in 1784 and he died in 1850. He was a hero of the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848. He was elected president of the USA and he served from 1849 to 1850. Unfortunately he died at the age of 65 after serving 16 months as president.
- The World Series of 1959: The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago White Six in 4 of the 6 games. A 7th game was not necessary. The fifth game of the Series was attended by 92,706 people and that was a World Series Record Attendance that has not been broken, and which cannot be currently broken in today's ballparks. It was also the first World Series game played on the west coast of the USA.
- Penicillin Antibiotics: Sir Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in the year 1928 while he was working in St. Mary's Hospital in London. However, from 1939 to 1942 a team of scientists gradually developed a method for extracting and purifying penicillin and Alexander Fleming, Howard Florey, and Ernst Chain received the 1945 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the development of penicillin in a way that could be mass produced.
Grandpappy's e-mail address is: RobertWayneAtkins@hotmail.com