Preschool Graduation, McDonalds and the Incredibles.

Today was my son's "graduation" from preschool. There wasn't a ceremony or even a valedictorian speech, but in the same manner as it has ended over the past two years, preschool stopped at 11:30 and AJ was thrilled to begin thinking about kindergarten.

As you can imagine, this is his first official commencement non-ceremony he has been a part of so it was a big moment in his life. As any parents with a graduating preschooler would do, we went to McDonalds to celebrate. It was there that we found out EVERY parent of a graduating preschooler went. It was chaos but for our nearly-five-year-old boy, it was a satisfying climax to a stunning preschool career that featured the highs and lows of a rigorous educational experience.

Yea verily, the fun wasn't over yet. We returned to the house "where it all began" and AJ's middle sister was thrilled to present him with his family reward for completing the sometimes daunting task that was preschool. The present sufficient to commemorate a nearly perfect day? Naturally, a watch with removable Incredibles figurines. $6.92 at Walmart.

AJ was ecstatic. Could anything else happen to make this day more of a Master Card commercial? Priceless doesn't even begin to describe the emotion he was feeling. And I must say as a somewhat proud father -- of a son who braved the perils of a 9 member preschool and overcame -- I too was feeling like it would be impossible to assign a value to the moment.

But that all changed...in a moment. Little did I realize that the granting of a watch would result in one of the most annoying habits of all: My son calling out the time every 2 minutes. Now, you might be thinking one of two things right now. A. He doesn't REALLY call out the time every two minutes. B. Ahhhhhh, how cute. I will address these objections in sequence.

First of all, he really does call out the time every two minutes. In fact, for the last 240 minutes, I have heard the time called forth 120 times. Do the math. It's like owning a grandfather clock that chimes the time every 120 seconds. It's like we live in Great Britain during the war, "1:54 and all's well.....1:56 and all's well....1:58 and all's well....2:00pm and all's well.... I keep waiting for, "4:10 and incoming enemy spotted" followed by air attack sirens and the frantic running of our family to a basement/bomb shelter that we don't have. Yes, he really has called out the time every two minutes. In fact, it's 4:10 right now, verified by Dashal Robert Parr himself.

Secondly, it was cute. For 4 minutes. It lost its cuteness at the 6 minute mark and by the 10 minute mark I contemplated telling him that watches were illegal in kindergarten and that we'd have to take it back. My wife said he would be devastated but I assured her that a lava lamp was all the craze among the other preschool kids and she really should have been more thoughtful in her selection of a commemorating gift. I digress.

Time is a funny thing, especially to a nearly-five-year-old boy who is reminding me moment-by-moment of its relentless march. Two days ago I celebrated my 32nd birthday and no matter what I do to try and put the breaks on, two minutes by two minutes, time will march on and before long I will be seeing 32 well back in the rear view mirror. There are no "time outs" in life, no redos and no take backs.

I guess that's what makes life so unique, so different from anything else. Life always marches on and it marches to the beat of seconds, minutes and hours. Days? Weeks? Months? Years? Those things are nothing without the seconds, minutes and hours that fill them up and flesh them out. I think that's why the Bible tells us to "Redeem the time" -- to take inventory of the time our lives are filled with and to make certain we do something with those increments, with that shadow that succinctly shifts around the dial. We will all one day stand before God and HE will ask for us two things. First, how did you respond in regards to my Son, Jesus? Second, what did you do with the time I gave you?

Time is important. Especially to a little boy who just announced that it's 4:32 and almost time for his friends pizza party. Time is important for me too, because I want to redeem it for the God who gave it to me. To use it to live right and do right in my life, the one I live between the sermons.

It's 4:34 and all's well.