It was a cold, crisp Christmas morning. The Rodger's family and their close friends had gathered to go through the motions of celebrating this day. Each person within the Rodger's household felt life was rather mundane, they all seemed to live for themselves and not care much about the world around them. Their lives had become boring, repetitive, and self-indulgent. The eight people who gathered there that day really had been living their lives only for themselves, but all of this was soon to change when an unexpected visitor arrived at the door.

He was a man dressed in a grey woolen sweater, grey slacks, a grey overcoat, and a grey hat. He knocked on the Rodger's door and waited for someone to bother to come and answer it. Finally after several knocks and pushes of the doorbell one of the guests walked over to the door and opened it. In stepped the man. No one seemed to care or even take notice he was there, they all just tended to go about their own business. The football game was on; there was food to eat, there were other "things" more important than this man and what he wanted. The man walked from room to room and observed each individual, no one stopped to acknowledge his presence.

Approximately and hour of time passed and the man who had been observing these people finally spoke up. He stated he needed them to all gather themselves into the family room. Begrudgingly and grumbling they complied. The man proceeded to tell them that due to their selfishness, their unenthusiastic attitude towards their precious lives and the lack of care about anyone else other than themselves that their punishment was to be they'd never again be able to leave this house. If they so much as stepped outside the door, they would drop dead immediately. He told them there lack of love for life and others had left them selfish, and since they no longer seemed to enjoy anything else other than themselves they could just stay within these four walls.

The man excused himself and left the house.

The Rodger's family and their friends sat stunned, then fear clutched them. The fear of trying to see if what the man said was true or not, became their obsession that stopped them from even trying. They bound themselves up even tighter and their selfishness grew to have fear and worry become their consuming fault. Not once did any of the eight try and change themselves so that they might make a difference in how they lived their lives. For five years no one left the Rodger's household and nothing was accomplished by anyone other than a party of pity and self-indulgent fear.

It was the morning of the fifth year, Christmas day came again. The man in the grey sweater, slacks, coat, and hat came back and knocked on the Rodger's door.

 

This time no one would open the door, but all eight of them stood and looked out the window in the door at the man on the porch. Finally, the head of the Rodger's household spoke up and asked what the man wanted now. The man asked if he could come in. They unlocked the door, stood back in fear and the man let himself in. "I can see, the man said somberly, that not only are you all still bored, and selfish but you've now added fear to your lives. You've all spent you entire lives up till this moment doing nothing but thinking of yourselves, going through the motions and letting fear consume your every waking moment. There never was a curse of death if you walked outside your house. You never even tried to change or grow out of yourselves. All of you have wasted your lives completely on yourselves. Go and leave now, you haven't learned appreciation for anything- you've just wasted your lives." With this said, the man turned and left.

At first fear still gripped the Rodger's and their friends, but slowly two by two they began to walk through the front door and step outside. Cautiously they stayed near the front porch and they began to feel a sense of pomposity about themselves and how dare anyone question their lives and how they lived them.

One person still gripped with self- stood in the doorway and would not take his leap of faith.

The man in the grey sweater, pants, coat, and hat appeared around the corner once again. He said to them, "Since you've not learned your lesson of placing self last and putting others first, since you're caught up in thinking yourselves better than others, since you still view life as mundane and since you have wasted five years of your lives on fear- all of you now have only six months left to live."

With that each person was struck with some form of cancer. This cancer had already been living dormant in each person; it had been living within their boredom, their selfishness, and their fear.

As each person returned to the inside of the house they all began to reflect on their lives. One by one each of them began to help the other person plan what they would do with their time left. They began to realize their lives had been wasted on self and knowing they had no longer than six months to live they'd better start living for God and others. In their short time left each one of them had two Bible studies with friends they'd known for years. They sold their possessions, broke down their assets, and donated all their monies collected, at their passing, to a children's research foundation for aggressive cancer. They took walks in the woods and had strangers in their home for food, laughter, warmth, and love. They spent their last six months living- really living.

Our lives are but a short journey here. Many times we become so myopic in our views that we go through our days like robots- just going through the motions without any emotion. We think we are too busy to step outside ourselves and help or enjoy others company. We tell ourselves we are too busy to teach others about Christ. We become overly involved in our own fears and let it stop us from living for God. Our Creator has given us life; we can choose how we want to spend it. The consequences of how we choose to live it are ours alone to pick. How will we choose? Will our lives be boring, selfish, fearful, hating, unproductive, and wasteful? Or will we choose to use the gifts we've been blessed with and leave this world a better place?

 

 

 

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