By Patrick Bet-David
At 6:05 PM Pacific Standard Time on February 1st, 2012 my life changed in an instant. My wife gave birth to our first child, Patrick Gabreal Bet-David Junior. God has such a unique way of constantly surprising us with his creation; it reminds us how amazing the gift of life really is.
He also teaches us the value of life by adding a timer. I believe we were created with a time clock that’s ticking every single second to remind us that we’re all mortal. Consider that all seven billion people living in the world today will be replaced with a new seven billion in the next 80 years or so. Don’t you sometimes wonder why he only gave us an average of 80 years? Why didn’t he create us in a way where we can live forever? Why is it that we age? I believe he wanted us to be more urgent about life knowing how fast it goes by. We’ve all got a brief time on this earth to make an impact and leave a mark. Our relatively short life spans give us a sense of urgency to do the most we can, in the time we have, with the gifts we’ve been given.
I’ve been told over the years that the moment I become a father, I will get softer and lose my sense of urgency about life. But I find that the birth of my son has had the opposite effect on me. I want to show this kid the world. Not that I want to give him everything; he will have to earn it like his father and grandfather did. But I want to show him what’s possible, inspire him with the good and prepare him for the bad and the ugly.
This blog post is a reminder that the clock is ticking for all of us and there’s much to do. It’s to challenge to spread our wings and max out in every single way possible so when the day comes that we lay our head down for the final time and meet our Maker, we can feel like we made God proud of what we did with the years He gave us.
