Before I Die

What’s important to me? There are some things that come right off the top of my head. Relationships with my family, my walk with God, friends, church and work.


And there are the secondary things. Will my retirement be around when I’m ready to leave work? Will my car make it through another winter?

And then there is another level: Will the washer need to be replaced? Will I be able see my kids for the holidays? Will I need to find another job to pay bills?

But importance is reshuffled when faced with a clock with an end.

What if my days were numbered…and I knew that number?

The list changes with the new urgency. Suddenly I’m faced with eternity. Is my heart right? Are there
unconfessed wrongs I’m harboring, hatred I’m gripping, and selfishness I’ve never let go?

Candy Chang lost a close friend and she began to ask these questions With help from friends, she turned the side of an abandoned house in New Orleans into a chalkboard and wrote this simple sentence. “Before I die I want to _______.” 

Within a day, the wall was filled by passers by, who picked up a piece of chalk, reflected on their lives, and shared their answer publicly. It wasn’t long before boards were erected around the world including Kazakhstan, South Africa, the Netherlands, Mexico, Australia, Portugal, Italy and Argentina.

I don’t need a chalk board necessarily. And neither do you. Written into all of our hearts is the desperate need for resolution.

We want  life with no regrets.

Before I die, I want to see some degree of healing to broken relationships.
I want to see my kids, leading their families in a godly home.
And I want to trust God — with everything.

What do you want to do, before you die?

Visit the project site www.beforeidie.cc for more info.
Thanks to Shawn Johnson at Red Rocks Church for the great sermon on this.  Thousands poured their hearts out all around the church. Tears flowed and the chalk flew!