February 2nd, 2021
Greetings my brothers. I have a confession to make: I really do enjoy Marvel Comics! Ever since I was about 6 or 7, my oldest brother started bringing comic books home for us to read and collect. My favorite comics were the Avengers characters: Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, and Captain America.
If any of you have seen the Avengers movies, you know the last two epic ones were “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: End Game.” These stories are centered around an evil villain named Thanos and his quest to gather 6 Infinity Stones to bring “balance to the universe” by eliminating half of the entire population. Yes, he is extreme but what do you expect from a super-villain! We’re going to talk about these 6 Infinity Stones for our lives as men and how we can harness the power of each to become the greatest heroes to those that reside in our universe: family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and even our enemies.This will be The Gauntlet of Power Series: Infinity Stones, which will be broken down over six weeks to encourage us as men to be the very best that we can be while we can, with what we have.
The 6 Infinity Stones that we’re talking about are (in no particular order): The Power Stone, Time Stone, Mind Stone, Reality Stone, Space Stone and the Soul Stone. Today I want to talk about the Time Stone and the importance of time in the life of a man. In the Avengers, the Time Stone gave the one that held it the power to manipulate time going in the past or far into the future and even freezing time. Time has been considered by many as one of our most precious commodities and assets that we possess on this earth. Time is a gift that cannot be taken for granted or returned once given away. Time is the exponential force that helps determine our growth, healing, seasons, return on investments, and more importantly the quality and depth of our relationships. While it took God 6 days to form the earth and the universe, it takes us a lifetime to find peace with God, ourselves, and our loved ones.
I grew up as a PK, for those that don’t know what that means, it’s a Preacher’s Kid. I was also the youngest of 5 children, so I was “the baby”. The love and respect that I had for my father growing up was only surpassed by that of my heavenly father as I love that man with all that is in me. Growing up I watched my dad be a great provider, protector, priest and pillar to our family. His active presence gave me an incredible advantage over many of my peers when it came to having positive role models in their lives. I grew up in a very small town in Alabama, where our population was right at 2,000 people. We had one stop light (and still do) in town and everybody knew everybody. I loved the country life and the simplicity of community and “the village mentality.” My dad was a highly respected man in the area and his name gave me an added sense of pride and protection, and kept me from some of the dangers that lurked around for a wide-eyed, naïve young boy.
In addition to my dad being a pastor since I was 6 years old, he always had a full time job that he worked for 35 years until he retired over 10 years ago. My childhood memories were of my father working hard every day, taking us to church every Sunday, and once a year taking us to Six Flags for the family vacation. I would always try to go with my mom and dad to church for my dad’s “extra” services when he had to preach at another church because I just wanted to spend time with them. The Time Stone was at work in my life at an early age in the fact that I thought that if I spent time with my dad, our bond would be strong and I would have all these memorable moments to look back on.
As I entered my high school years, the extremely high platform that I had placed my dad on began to come down a few pegs. I began to participate in sports, basketball in particular, when I was in the 9th grade. I was very fortunate to play my entire 4 years of high school. In my Junior year, I added Track to my plate and so my final 2 years were busy with sports from November until May. I was enjoying all my newfound success through sports in high school, but the only thing that was missing was the holder of the Time Stone….my dad. In my high school sports career, I probably played close to 100 basketball games and ran in at least 30 track meets. Unfortunately my dad only saw me play 4 games and didn’t see me run track once. When I yield the Time Stone, I cherish the great times, friendships, accomplishments and even failures from my high school career but I can’t seem to manipulate that time to include seeing my dad cheering me on.
About 12 years after graduating high school, I found myself struggling in my marriage and having a distant love and respect for my dad. On this particular Father’s Day, my dad and I had a long talk about how much I loved and appreciated him and for being what I still thought was a good dad. His response was that he wished that he would have been there more for me in high school and could have supported me more in all my sports. He shared how at the time as he was working full-time, being a pastor and pursuing his degree in Theology, he was doing what he thought was most important at the time – ministry. He admitted that he learned that that wasn’t the right time management on his part and he realized that family should have been more of a priority. At that moment, the Time Stone was the most powerful that it had ever been because all those painful moments of secretly feeling neglected were removed from my existence. I understand the importance of good intentions and the pain caused by willful ignorance. Ignorance is literally “to ignore knowledge” and as men we must make sure that we’re not ignorant when it comes to what we’re called to do and be as fathers and mentors in the lives of our kids or of the young people that look up to us.
As men, unfortunately we can’t go back and change our pasts, but we can learn from them and make sure that our futures are everything we want them to be.In Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8, Solomon talks about there is a time and a season for everything under heaven. Our quest as men is to know what time and season we are in in our lives and make sure that we’re giving our full attention to that time and season. Planning ahead is wise, but living in the moment with those that you love is fulfilling. I shared a personal encounter about my “Time Stone” experience so that hopefully you will remember to not be anxious about the future or regret every moment of your past, but embrace the fact that your Heavenly Father loves you today and wants you to enjoy time with Him and with your loved ones. Whether it’s making a date night with your spouse or girlfriend, taking your kid to the movies, or just sitting down as a family and having dinner together, know that time can be your greatest superpower or your greatest enemy- it all depends on how you use it. Balancing your many roles and responsibilities can be a daunting task, but keep at the forefront of your mind, we only get one chance at this wonderful thing called life and we must give an account to God for what we do with every second he gives us. Time can be a sacrifice, but I understand the benefits of early investments and what it can and will produce in the lives of my loved ones
Join me next time as we look at the next Infinity Stone: The Mind Stone. Can’t wait!
Personal Reflection:
If you know that you have 1 year left on this earth, what would you do with your time? Spend it healing old wounds? Restoring your broken relationships? Cherishing your family and friends? Making an impact on the most people that you can? Make a top 5 or top 10 list and see where most of your priorities are.
Prayer
Ask God to show you where you’re spending unnecessary time and to give you wisdom going forward to maximize it. If you have bad memories as I had, ask God to give you a new perspective and heal your heart.
If any of you have seen the Avengers movies, you know the last two epic ones were “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: End Game.” These stories are centered around an evil villain named Thanos and his quest to gather 6 Infinity Stones to bring “balance to the universe” by eliminating half of the entire population. Yes, he is extreme but what do you expect from a super-villain! We’re going to talk about these 6 Infinity Stones for our lives as men and how we can harness the power of each to become the greatest heroes to those that reside in our universe: family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and even our enemies.This will be The Gauntlet of Power Series: Infinity Stones, which will be broken down over six weeks to encourage us as men to be the very best that we can be while we can, with what we have.
The 6 Infinity Stones that we’re talking about are (in no particular order): The Power Stone, Time Stone, Mind Stone, Reality Stone, Space Stone and the Soul Stone. Today I want to talk about the Time Stone and the importance of time in the life of a man. In the Avengers, the Time Stone gave the one that held it the power to manipulate time going in the past or far into the future and even freezing time. Time has been considered by many as one of our most precious commodities and assets that we possess on this earth. Time is a gift that cannot be taken for granted or returned once given away. Time is the exponential force that helps determine our growth, healing, seasons, return on investments, and more importantly the quality and depth of our relationships. While it took God 6 days to form the earth and the universe, it takes us a lifetime to find peace with God, ourselves, and our loved ones.
I grew up as a PK, for those that don’t know what that means, it’s a Preacher’s Kid. I was also the youngest of 5 children, so I was “the baby”. The love and respect that I had for my father growing up was only surpassed by that of my heavenly father as I love that man with all that is in me. Growing up I watched my dad be a great provider, protector, priest and pillar to our family. His active presence gave me an incredible advantage over many of my peers when it came to having positive role models in their lives. I grew up in a very small town in Alabama, where our population was right at 2,000 people. We had one stop light (and still do) in town and everybody knew everybody. I loved the country life and the simplicity of community and “the village mentality.” My dad was a highly respected man in the area and his name gave me an added sense of pride and protection, and kept me from some of the dangers that lurked around for a wide-eyed, naïve young boy.
In addition to my dad being a pastor since I was 6 years old, he always had a full time job that he worked for 35 years until he retired over 10 years ago. My childhood memories were of my father working hard every day, taking us to church every Sunday, and once a year taking us to Six Flags for the family vacation. I would always try to go with my mom and dad to church for my dad’s “extra” services when he had to preach at another church because I just wanted to spend time with them. The Time Stone was at work in my life at an early age in the fact that I thought that if I spent time with my dad, our bond would be strong and I would have all these memorable moments to look back on.
As I entered my high school years, the extremely high platform that I had placed my dad on began to come down a few pegs. I began to participate in sports, basketball in particular, when I was in the 9th grade. I was very fortunate to play my entire 4 years of high school. In my Junior year, I added Track to my plate and so my final 2 years were busy with sports from November until May. I was enjoying all my newfound success through sports in high school, but the only thing that was missing was the holder of the Time Stone….my dad. In my high school sports career, I probably played close to 100 basketball games and ran in at least 30 track meets. Unfortunately my dad only saw me play 4 games and didn’t see me run track once. When I yield the Time Stone, I cherish the great times, friendships, accomplishments and even failures from my high school career but I can’t seem to manipulate that time to include seeing my dad cheering me on.
About 12 years after graduating high school, I found myself struggling in my marriage and having a distant love and respect for my dad. On this particular Father’s Day, my dad and I had a long talk about how much I loved and appreciated him and for being what I still thought was a good dad. His response was that he wished that he would have been there more for me in high school and could have supported me more in all my sports. He shared how at the time as he was working full-time, being a pastor and pursuing his degree in Theology, he was doing what he thought was most important at the time – ministry. He admitted that he learned that that wasn’t the right time management on his part and he realized that family should have been more of a priority. At that moment, the Time Stone was the most powerful that it had ever been because all those painful moments of secretly feeling neglected were removed from my existence. I understand the importance of good intentions and the pain caused by willful ignorance. Ignorance is literally “to ignore knowledge” and as men we must make sure that we’re not ignorant when it comes to what we’re called to do and be as fathers and mentors in the lives of our kids or of the young people that look up to us.
As men, unfortunately we can’t go back and change our pasts, but we can learn from them and make sure that our futures are everything we want them to be.In Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8, Solomon talks about there is a time and a season for everything under heaven. Our quest as men is to know what time and season we are in in our lives and make sure that we’re giving our full attention to that time and season. Planning ahead is wise, but living in the moment with those that you love is fulfilling. I shared a personal encounter about my “Time Stone” experience so that hopefully you will remember to not be anxious about the future or regret every moment of your past, but embrace the fact that your Heavenly Father loves you today and wants you to enjoy time with Him and with your loved ones. Whether it’s making a date night with your spouse or girlfriend, taking your kid to the movies, or just sitting down as a family and having dinner together, know that time can be your greatest superpower or your greatest enemy- it all depends on how you use it. Balancing your many roles and responsibilities can be a daunting task, but keep at the forefront of your mind, we only get one chance at this wonderful thing called life and we must give an account to God for what we do with every second he gives us. Time can be a sacrifice, but I understand the benefits of early investments and what it can and will produce in the lives of my loved ones
Join me next time as we look at the next Infinity Stone: The Mind Stone. Can’t wait!
Personal Reflection:
If you know that you have 1 year left on this earth, what would you do with your time? Spend it healing old wounds? Restoring your broken relationships? Cherishing your family and friends? Making an impact on the most people that you can? Make a top 5 or top 10 list and see where most of your priorities are.
Prayer
Ask God to show you where you’re spending unnecessary time and to give you wisdom going forward to maximize it. If you have bad memories as I had, ask God to give you a new perspective and heal your heart.
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