spent

I watched the all star game last night. It was a nice showcase for the best stadium in baseball. It's more or less a popularity contest. They always leave out players who should have made it and invite guys that just aren't that great. It's sort of frustrating if you look at it that way.

It's also kind of puzzling why they have an all star game in the middle of the season. Every year there's some guy who bats 260 with 12 home runs and 35 RBI's during the first half....not great, but not terrible. Then the guy bats 370 with 30 more home runs and 70 more RBI's the second half. He's just a slow starter, but over the course of the year, he's the best guy at his position. So to have a great year and not make the all star game is kind of a sham. That's how it's set up though.

Here's the one thing I noticed during the game. There were two seats - the best two seats in the house - right behind home plate. It was a row of two. Nobody sat in them for 8 1/2 innings. There was one guy in one of the seats for a couple of outs during the 4th inning....but other than that - nada, bupkis, zero, zilch....empty, unused, vacant (I'm guessing you're getting my point)

WHAT A WASTE! Whoever owned those seats could have given them to a sick kid, sold them on e-bay and given me the money, put up a sign that would have been on national tv for a couple of hours, held a cell phone up while waving to whoever was on the other line into the camera. Nothing. Empty. Unused. Wasted!

I sometimes wonder how much money I'd have it I snapped my fingers and had all the money that was wasted in the world for one day. I get all the money that people lose, spend on stuff that they'll never once use, spend on stuff that doesn't work but they won't take back, all the unclaimed rebates, all the money that they're overcharged at supermarkets but don't notice, the money they spend on products that don't work the way they thought they would.....I get it all. I'm guessing I'd be a mega-billionaire with just one day's waste.

I wonder how much I would have if I could snap my fingers and get all of the money I wasted in my life. Same kind of stuff....rebates, overcharges, stuff that doesn't work, money I took out of investments to waste on stupid stuff.....I'm guessing I'd be pretty happy, yet sad, with my new money.

Which brings me to my final point - I wonder how much of my time/talents/gifts/energy I wasted yesterday? I wonder how I could have maxed out what God has given me to help others, inspire, encourage or instruct? I wonder who I would have helped, had I really died to myself and given of myself completely? I wonder how my day would have changed????

I don't want to live a life of empty seats, unfulfilled expectations, mediocre results. I want to be spent, completely...