There were roughly 20 of us in class that day.  Myself and other members of my high school senior English class had sauntered into the room, found our seats, and had begun rummaging through the contents of our bookbags attempting to find our assignments, pencils, and hardbacks.

Our teacher had arrived and closed the door.  The bell rang.  As the teacher was getting papers situated on her desk, the door opened and in walked a classmate.

He was late, but more important than that, was the fact that in addition to his already bulging bookbag, he was carrying a very large duffle bag. 

The next few moments elapsed in lightening-speed time as the tardy student dropped his duffle bag to the floor, unzipped it, and produced a large gun.  He blitzed the very perplexed teacher and knocked her to the floor.  At that point, he stood stone-faced and silently in front of our class, holding us at gunpoint.

Verbal chaos ensued.  The boys in the class began desperately trying to talk this kid off the mental ledge he was on and persuade him to lower the weapon.

Remaining silent, I went into another thought pattern entirely.  I was a relatively fresh Christ-follower and immediately thought, “Shoot me…please don’t harm the others!  Shoot ME…I’ll get to go be with Jesus!!” 

Yes, I had my “whole life” in front of me; yes, I hoped to someday marry and have a family to share my time on Earth with; yes, I eventually wanted a meaningful job, but NONE of those things held a candle to being WITH Jesus.  Paul said it this way, “…living means living for Christ and, dying is even better.” (Phil. 1:21 NLT)

All I wanted was to be with Him (and no one else to be harmed).  Radical for a 17-year-old, I know.  But, in addition to having such inner peace during that outwardly adrenaline-pumping conflict (which, by the way, concluded with the boy being safely disarmed and promptly escorted to the police station), that day taught me another valuable life lesson that I’ve never forgotten as I’ve continued to give every day to God:

Hold on loosely

All that I have belongs to Christ – my time, my talents, my resources, my family, my job, my LIFE –  He is the One who gave it to me to begin with and, in the end, He is the One who will inquire about how I cared for the people and things He entrusted to me for such a brief time.  None of it is mine to lay claim to or hold so tightly that I become lost should He take any of it away.

As Holocaust survivor Corrie ten Boom so aptly put it, “I have learned to hold all things loosely, so God will not have to pry them out of my hands.”

Until next time, Grace and Glory!