I once heard a speaker say that there are three ‘epoch times’ in the life of a follower of Christ.  The first is ‘formation’.  ‘There is a time to be born . . .’  (Ecclesiastes 3.2)  And, August was the month so many years ago that was my ‘formation’ – my time to be born.  As I have looked back over my life from time to time, I have hung my head in shame at the foolishness of my heart as a child, a teen, and a young adult.  I truly was the ‘poster child’ for Proverbs 22.15a – ‘Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child’.  In the Message it reads, ‘Young people are prone to foolishness and fads’!  I have often thought, ‘Why couldn’t I have been more serious minded – God-conscious from the get-go – have sought God’s will for my life early on and focused in on that – and have devoted my life to Him and for His purpose for my life at an early age’?  Well, it didn’t happen.  I’m sure God wanted it to, but I was too independent, rebellious, seeking the world’s approval – and because I wasn’t God-conscious, somehow felt as if I were on His level – as smart as He.  I shake my head, still, at all my ‘foolishness’!

Thankfully, I entered the second of the ‘epoch times’ having had a one-on-One with Jesus in the middle of the night in my apartment when my first-born was just a few months old.  It was my ‘transformation’!  II Corinthians 5.17 – ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, (s)he is a new creation.  The old has passed away, behold the new has come.’   This sinless One came to me – me, personally! – and invited me to invite Him into my life.  I asked His forgiveness for all my ‘foolishness’ (sin) and embraced Him with everything in me.  My life has never been the same since.  I did a complete 180-degree turn.  (I have written about this life-changing experience in an earlier ‘Sharing’ – ‘Call Out to God’, September, 2017.)  Instead of rebelling against Him, thinking I knew more than my Creator, and distancing myself from Him, I wanted to think like Jesus – act and re-act like Jesus – I wanted to be like Jesus.  Instead of self-serving, I now wanted to serve Him and others.  I wanted to ask others for their forgiveness – to keep a very short list of ‘wrongs’.  This didn’t happen overnight.  It was – and still is an on-going growth experience – and will continue to the day I see Him face to face.

There is a time to die . . .  (Ecclesiastes 3.2)   Thus, enters the ‘third epoch’ time in the life of a follower of Christ – Translation! –  which is still yet to come for me.  ‘Translation’ in this case refers to ‘movement of a body from one point of space to another’, or Miriam-Webster’s definition:  ‘ a change to a different substance, form, or appearance’.  For a Christian, that means a new body and truly, a complete renewing of our minds.  ‘but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is’.  (I John 3.2b)  Can you imagine?!  Finally, I will be like Jesus.  My heart’s desire is to serve my Savior and others for as long as I have breath, but when He is ready for my ‘translation’ – ‘oh, what a day of rejoicing that will be’!