I love summer. I grew up spending most of my summers at the pool. When I was 5, I joined a swim team. That was in 1979. Almost every year since then I have been involved with the sport of swimming in some way, whether it was as an athlete, coach, or ref.
For years my hair was white, with a lovely hint of green thanks to the chlorine. When I was in high school I started lifeguarding. A typical summer day looked like this:

5:30 -7:30: Long course swim practice for my club team.
8:00-10:00 Coach the neighborhood recreation league swim team.
10:00-11:30 Private swim lessons
12:00-6:00 Lifeguard at the public pool
7:00-9:00 Lifeguard private parties at the pool.

I am convinced that I have irreparable damage to my skin from the sun and chlorine, but I was in shape and looking good at the time! Or at least I thought I looked good. I may have been a little full of myself at 16.

These days I'm a bit overweight and have a nice tan line halfway up my arm. The rest of me looks a little like Gollum from the Lord of the Rings. My muscles are about as toned as a Jell-O. I was at the pool yesterday with some of the youth for our first Mission Monday. I looked around at the young lifeguards and was a little envious. Here they stood all in shape and tanned, hanging out at the pool, without a real care in the world. I used to be like that.

Sometimes I long for “yesterday” wishing I could have those days back. Our society does the same thing. We glamorize “the good ol’ days” and people spend billions of dollars each year to stay young and cool. I saw a woman yesterday that was at least 60, wearing a bathing suite that was WAY to small, tattoos all over, and multiple piercings in interesting places. She was desperately trying to hang on to her youth that had slipped away back when the Elvis was skinny.

On the other side of the coin, it’s just as easy to worry and dream about the future as it is to obsess over the past. When I was a student I can remember thinking in middle school, “I can't wait until high school.” As a freshman, it was “I can't wait till I'm a sophomore.” Then it became dreaming about college, and how much better life will be then. After college, I imagined being married and having a job. Now dream about the day when I finish seminary and don’t have to go to class anymore!

Do you folks ever do that? Dream about the future, or long for the past? I think everybody does it to some extent. But ya’ know what? It’s a waste of time. God wants us to live in the present moment, not worrying about the future or dreaming of the past.

Look at scripture. In a passage from Luke we see this: "He (Jesus) said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father. “Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.""

In other words, let the past be the past. If we dwell on things that already happened, it will suck the joy right out of the present moment. When we focus on the way things were, we miss the joy of what is going on now and the mission that God has for us today.

The same is true of dreaming or worrying about the future. This is what Jesus says in Matthew 6: 33-34: "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Carpe diem is the Latin phrase from a poem by Horace that means seize the day. That is the spirit of the scriptures above. If we live our life looking back or looking forward, we miss the life that is happening right here and right now. And that is the secret to embracing and living the life that God has for us. Forget the past, because it is over. Have faith that God is taking care of the future. Seize the day that you are living now, live it for God, and enjoy the life Christ gave you!

As I was bemoaning my white belly at the pool, Luke ran up to me shouting "Daa!!" (Which I'm pretty sure meant "Dad".) He reached up for me to hold him, and then buried his face in my neck. Jack was splashing water with a friend and Sam was asking me to go race him down the water slide. I looked at Brandie and was struck by how pretty she is. Suddenly, my glistening white gut didn't seem to matter. I'd trade my old skinny, tanned, body and sun bleached blonde hair any day for what I have now. Carpe diem.

I went hiking last week for three days. Hiking is one of my all time favorite things to do. I love the whole idea of not showering, getting dirty, eating freeze dried food, swimming in rivers, and carrying everything I need to survive on my back. I would have left my toothbrush at home as well, but Brandie insisted that I take it. I actually used it once.

We hiked to a waterfall called Yahoo falls. It was pretty spectacular. As the water poured down, the force caused a steady, strong wind to blow. A friend of mine that was with me wrote this about the experience:

As the water fell, it created a breeze. So while my friends and I stood away from the falls, we could hear the rushing water and we could feel the wind blowing on us. The wind was strong; you could slightly lean into it and feel it pushing against you. Also, you could hear it blowing. Although the falling water was much louder, you could still distinguish the sound of wind. Also, the wind was thick with moisture from the falling water and, even from forty or fifty feet away, we were dampened by the cooling mist.

As I stood there, with arms outstretched, trying to absorb, not only the chilly wind and mist, but also, as much of this beautiful experience as I could. I remember thinking to myself; God is present with me now. I asked Mark, one of my friends, “How can anyone experience this moment and not be convinced of God?”

Luke describes the Spirit as a sound coming from Heaven like a mighty rushing wind. It’s interesting that the Spirit is described as a rushing wind. Do you know that in Greek, that the word for Spirit is the same word as wind… pneuma. According to Luke, the Spirit came with the loud rushing movement of the wind.

As I stood facing that misting breeze I couldn’t help but wonder what is was like on that morning in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit descended on those present. I must have been fantastic. So was that waterfall.

I hope that just as I experienced the beauty and force of the waterfall, you can experience the beauty and force of the Holy Spirit in your life. It is within your grasp to do so. It just takes a moment of surrender. Sit down, empty yourself, and ask God to fill you up. It'll be amazing, and don't be surprised if you experience "a mighty rushing wind" yourself!