What do you long for that you know you’ll never have because it’s too late? What if what you desire is still possible when a sovereign God holds your future and not the years lost from the calendar?
In 1986, I drove twenty miles through traffic to a job paying eight dollars an hour—enough for our house payment, groceries, the occasional pizza, and utilities if we kept the thermostat high during Houston summers.
Every morning, I listened to a national Christian radio show. One week, it featured the former National Teacher of the Year in a special series.
He shared how he grew up in a dysfunctional family, overweight and mistreated by both his peers and some of his teachers. School was a daily humiliation, until a kind Christian teacher changed everything, inspiring him to become a good student and eventually a teacher himself.
As a teacher, he became an advocate for students burdened like he once was, earning praise and eventually national recognition.
Listening, I thought, “I could’ve been that teacher,” but reality intruded: a wife, kids, mortgage, no time or money for college. Who was I kidding? Recurring thoughts of “if only” haunted me.
Five years later, self-employment failed; food ran low and bills piled up. Out of desperation, I took a job as a Domino’s driver, earning just minimum wage plus tips. I avoided talking about my work, struggling with humiliation and feeling like God had shipwrecked my life on a barren island.
Some drivers were older and, to my surprise, attending college. They were average people, not scholars, yet they succeeded. After years of thinking I wasn’t cut out for college, I finally took the entrance exam—and scored very well.
Soon, I was a thirty-two-year-old freshman, with three kids and a mortgage. I earned straight A’s, tutored classmates, and heard I explained things better than the teachers. I began to entertain a crazy thought: could I become a teacher?
Going year-round, I finished in under three and a half years. On my last day, I took finals and had two job interviews; before even finishing, I’d been offered a teaching position. Nine years later, I was named head of my department.
Our finances during those college years were precarious; at times, we fell two months behind on our mortgage payment and feared foreclosure, but God saw us through. Decades later, I still marvel—there really is no “too late” with God.
Think about Abraham and Sarah—God promised them a child when Abraham was 100 and his wife was 90. Sarah thought the promise was laughable, but God kept His word.
Or consider when Lazarus died. His sister told Jesus, “If only you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” But even then, Jesus showed that God’s timing isn’t limited by our clocks or what we think is possible. He brought Lazarus back, proving again it’s never too late with God.
Today, if you’re facing a relationship that seems irretrievably broken, dealing with a health issue that looks terminal, or struggling under the weight of hopeless debt—think about Abraham and Sarah, think about Lazarus, and think about all the regular believers like me who have learned there is no “too late” with God.
. . . and that’s what I know today.