Everone knows what a bucket list is; that list of things you want to do before you “kick the bucket.” A movie a few years ago with that name starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson was a rather irreverent view of dying on one hand, but a realistic view on the other.
(As of this writing, I just got out of the hospital, my oldest brother is in the hospital, and my next oldest brother is scheduled for some serious surgery next week.)(By the way, I live within walking distance of the Mississippi River!)
There’s a song that was written by Woody Mullis and Trey Matthews a few years ago, and was recorded by Tracy Byrd, The Oak Ridge Boys, and some others. It’s called “Before I Die.”
Before I die,
I wanna hit the Mississippi in a boat I’ve yet to buy,
And take it out in the gulf where the water meets the sky,
To where nothin’ on God’s green earth looks dry.
And I wanna see
That stadium in New York from a right field seat,
Maybe catch a home run when a new all star goes deep,
And pretend that’s Maris and Mantle pointin’ up at me.
While I can still breathe,
While this old heart still has another beat,
It’s time I put some livin’ to these dreams.
Before I die,
I’m gonna learn all about how man swallows pride;
And find the strength to tell my daddy he was right,
And tell mama, I’m sorry ’bout that night.
Before I’m called up,
I wanna be the kinda man that a woman wants to love,
And find a side of me that’s a different kind of tough,
And who ain’t ashamed to need the Man above.
While I can still breathe,
While this old heart still has another beat,
It’s time I put some livin’ to these dreams.
And Lord I know,
These are things I should have done a long time ago,
And when I close my eyes I wanna feel at ease,
And if I left right now, I couldn’t rest in peace.
While I can still breathe,
While this old heart still has another beat,
It’s time I put some livin’ to these dreams.
Before I die,
I wanna hit the Mississippi in a boat I’ve yet to buy…..
The Psalmist said:
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
15 The life of mortals is like grass,
they flourish like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more. (103)
And Isaiah said:
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.” (ch. 40)
Jesus said:
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6)
The Apostle Peter wrote:
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (letter 1, ch. 1)
If you feel like making a “bucket list” put at the top “Meet Jesus in the air.”
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 one another with these words. (–1 Thessalonians 4)
THE RIGHT RENDITION 
Really good one.
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I like it. That’s the best bucket list … To meet the Lord in the air…. Because I think I really don’t need a bucket list. All the most wonderful things we think we would like to do are nothing compared to walking on streets of gold and being with Jesus. Pamy
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Great thoughts, great song, and great advice!
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