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hoSays
Time
Is Closing in on
You!
by
Keith W. Stump
None of us seems to find enough time to accomplish all we would like to in this life.
Do unrealized potentials die with us? Or are there future
opportunities-somewhere beyond death? The answer may surprise you!
W
HEN
Albert Einstein
died in April 1955
at the age of 76, a
beated race carne to an
abrupt end.
Einstein lost.
In bis iater years, the famed phys–
icist worked feverishly to synthesize
a revolutionary new theory.
" 1 cannot tear myself away from
my work," Einstein wrote.
"lt
has
me inexorably in its clutches."
lt
was a race against time- and
time won.
A photograph of Einstein's study
in Princeton, New Jersey, taken
shortly after his death, shows a
blackboard full of equations, a desk
overstrewn with reams of paper–
and an empty chair. The unfinished
business is all too apparent.
"It
seemed that the difference
between life and death for Einstein
consisted only in the difference
between being able and not being
able to do physics," a fellow phys–
icist had once written.
Will Einstein ever again have the
May 1985
opportunity to " do physics"?
Time and tide wait for no man,
observes an English proverb. For
most, time moves too quickly. We
simply cannot find enough time to
accomplish all that we would like to
accomplish in our lives. As we grow
older, time seems to fly by at an
even faster rate.
Then, inevitably, comes the
"end." Authors die leaving uncom–
pleted books; composers die leaving
unfinished symphonies; scientists
die leaving uncompleted experi–
ments; businessmen die leaving
half-built corporations; parents die
leaving growing children or grand–
children.
It happens every day.
The Grim Reaper
We are all fami liar with the prover–
bial story of the skull-faceq, scythe–
wielding "Grim Reaper"-the per–
sonification of death. His human
victim invariably tries to argue the
Reaper out of taking his life, but to
no avail.
" But 1 have a wife and children,"
the doomed man pleads. Or, "But
things are finally beginning to go
right for me; 1 can't die now!" Or,
"I'm right in the middle of an
important project; 1 need more
time!"
Such are often the thoughts that
arise as one faces the prospect of
death. Even those who claim to
desire death as relief from painful
physical affiictions or because they
"have nothing to live for" are in
many cases really saying that they
would like to be healed or to find
something to live for.
Turning Back the Clock
For the vast majority of people, the
mind rebels against the thought of
death. Death is seen as an "ene–
my. " Indeed, the Bible labels it as
such
(J
Cor. 15:26).
Man's refusal to accept bis own
mortality is clearly in evidence
today in so many ways.
As the years pass by, many
people begin to experience a "crisis
of body image." Increasing num–
bers are turning to cosmetic sur-
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