"HEY, IT'S McFEBRUARY!"

"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." (Psalm 90:12)

"Hey! It's McFebruary!" Well, to be perfectly accurate, the person who exclaimed that pronounced the second month of the year incorrectly (as most of us do), so it came out as, "Hey, It's McFebuary!"

That exclamation was made as a group of college students were gathering for a large lecture class at the very attractive Hemenway Auditorium/Theater at Stonehill College. Most wore jeans, and jerseys or sweatshirts. A few dressed a little "nicer" or a little more conservative. It was before class, and kids were shooting the breeze happily, as nineteen-year-old college sophomores are inclined to do. I was one of those kids. (I was one of the minority who dressed a little "nicer". I've got to admit that if I were that age today, I'd probably just wear jeans and casual clothes to class!) The year was 1974. I vividly remember it as if it happened just a short time ago. The kid who exclaimed, "Hey, It's McFebuary!" got some chuckles and grins, including one from me! That year, the McDonald's chain had done a huge advertising campaign over the final couple of weeks of January. There were catchy television spots promoting the exciting month of "McFebruary" at McDonalds. It seemed like they were on constantly, but they were cheery and fun ads- not at all annoying. I still remember that there was a jingle sung, as well:

"McFebruary, that's your very special month at McDonald's; every day's a surprise holiday; Lookin' up, Cookin' up good things for you! McFebruary- that's your very special month at McDonald's!"

Each year, on February 1, I automatically think of that morning of February 1, 1974, the Hemenway Auditorium/Theater, and the happy kid who proclaimed, "Hey, It's McFebuary!" Were it not for that kid's exclamation and the humor of it which left it indelibly etched on my memory, I probably would have forgotten the whole McFebruary thing a long time ago. This year, as I thought about McFebruary, I did a quick calculation which left me somewhat jolted and shocked: This is the Fortieth Anniversary of February 1, 1974. Young people reading this may not catch the significance of what I've just written because they haven't yet realized how quickly life flies by! I look in the mirror each morning and see an overweight fifty-nine-year-old guy with graying hair and a gray mustache who looks like he'd be one of my parents' friends from, well circa 1974 or 1984, and it doesn't seem possible this guy in the mirror could be me! You see, in many ways, I still feel like that nineteen-year-old with his perfectly dark brown hair and dark brown mustache and fairly cool wire-framed glasses! Immediately after experiencing the shock of processing the fact that forty years have gone by, I did another quick calculation which indicated I will be ninety-nine in another forty years! Frankly, the actuarial tables would probably indicate it's very unlikely I'll live too much beyond eighty-one or eighty-two, but should I make it all the say to ninety-nine, I'd probably be a very frail guy living in a nursing home and needing constant care.

It's sobering, isn't it?! This week, one of my kids posted on Facebook a candid photo taken in our old Framingham residence on my youngest daughter Rachel's second birthday. It was September of 1988. Rachel's in the center, with three-year-old Amy on her left and on her right, our friend's son John who is about Amy's age. I miss that "world"- when my kids were five, three, and two years old. I was thirty-four then. Physically, I felt great. Yes, life was challenging, and it seems we always had financial problems, but outside of that, life was filled with lots of fun and zest and hope. The future seemed bright. I don't think I ever gave a thought to retirement or buying a burial plot or personal health issues, or anything like that. I did not own nor use a computer in 1988. That would not come for over four more years, and I did not go on-line until 1996. I did not own a cell phone until 1999, for that matter. It was a much simpler time. I'd go back to those days if I could, but I can't.

Last night on his "Nightside" radio program on Boston's WBZ, host Dan Rea commented that this January has been the fastest January he can ever remember. I concur with that! Each year, the weeks and months seem to go by faster and faster! Some years ago, an elderly woman in the church I was pastoring asked me if I thought God has sped up time because we are so close to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. She was alarmed by how fast her own life was speeding by and she'd come up with that theory as the reason why life was going by so fast. I think I disappointed her when I told her, "No,"- that time was going by at pretty much the same pace, but that as we get older it seems to go faster. I can remember how long a year took to go by when I was in elementary school- "forever"! It seemed like just getting from Thanksgiving Day to Christmas totally dragged along. Now, it's just the opposite. I've joked with friends and family that there are really only two seasons each year: Christmas and Summer! The whole Christmas push happens just after Labor Day, but it frankly seems like a whirlwind ride each year from Labor Day to New Year's Day. It seems like a month! Then, the next thing you know, it's April Fool's Day, and it's Memorial Day weekend followed (instantly!) by the Fourth of July! Then, it's Labor Day and it all happens all over again. And, it's 1974, and it's 1988, and it's 2014! You know that song, "100 Years" sung by "Five For Fighting"?! Well, even if you don't know it, that song is about what I'm writing here- how rapidly life goes by.

The Bible verse I opened with from Psalm 90 takes me back to my Central Bible College days, which incidentally happened a few years after my Stonehill College days. That story involves another college kid who was probably not much more than nineteen or twenty at the time: Andy Rix. Andy was blonde and dressed kind of "preppy". He tended to be the type who was always learning and quoting Bible verses. (You might think every kid at a Bible College was always learning and quoting Bible verses, but honestly that's not the case!) Andy got fixed on that verse for some reason and was going around just reciting it and reciting it and reciting it over and over and over! He told me it's a very important verse because it says we've got to make each day of our lives really count for God. I must say that at the time I thought Andy was being rather excessive. But, now as a look at that overweight fifty-nine-year-old guy in the mirror and try to accept the fact that in just a bit over ten years I'll be in my seventies, I realize how right Andy was! So many people give absolutely no thought to the fact that one day they'll stand before God and give an account for what they did with their earthly lives. Even we evangelical Christians can get very lazy about it, just thinking, "Well, Jesus saved me so I've got nothing to worry about!" The fact is, we are responsible to be stewards of our lives. I think I wasted a lot of time and opportunities during the past couple of decades of my life. Considering how (relatively) little time I probably have left, I am very concerned that I use the time and opportunities I will have ahead in my life wisely.

"Hey, It's McFebuary!" Life's flying by! Don't waste it!