We were sitting at a table on the sidewalk in North Myrtle Beach eating ice cream when a man at the table next to us noticed my UK shirt and asked me about it. He was an African-American about my age on vacation with his family from Columbus, Ohio and was a “Buckeye” fan. My shirt caught his attention because he had grown up in Hazard, Ky about 30 minutes from my home.

As we continued talking, I learned that he was a believer taking online classes at Liberty University toward a master’s degree in Christian ministry.

A group of young adults stopped at our table and one of the guys asked me where the next bar was. Before I could answer a young woman in the group said, “You look like you like to have a good time, where’s a good bar?” I responded, “I do like to have a good time, but not with alcohol” and I didn’t know where a bar was.

After they walked away, my new friend sitting at the next table told me that August would make 13 years since God delivered him from alcoholism. He then spoke about his regrets at wasting 41 years of his life by not living for the Lord. He lamented that young people think they always have plenty of time, only to one day discover that they’re actually wasting their life by waiting to get serious about God.

One doesn’t have to be an alcoholic to waste his or her life. Just put Jesus on the back burner and you will miss so much that God has for you. Choosing to waste even one day of this precious gift called life is a tragedy.

Pastor Steve Hogg