What would you want to share in your 7.9 seconds?

I generally don’t do topical commentary. It is difficult to not seem insincere or opportunistic when writing about current issues…nonetheless, that is where I find myself at 1:19AM this Sunday morning. I was ready to go to bed after a day of annoyingly chronic pain but was compelled to write this Quickie. The word “quickie” may suggests disrespect to some, but I ask that you please forgive that unfortunate coincidence. The name of the category and tag only represents the shorter nature of the post, not the 7.9 seconds.

If you have been in the job-hunting market recently and have brushed up on your résumé writing skills, you likely have been encouraged to also develop your elevator pitch.

What would you want to share in your 7.9 seconds?

DEFINITION of ‘Elevator Pitch‘

A slang term used to describe a brief speech that outlines an idea for a product, service or project. The name comes from the notion that the speech should be delivered in the short time period of an elevator ride, usually 20-60 seconds. Source

Those 20-60 seconds on the ride up before your target audience leaves the elevator for the sequestered privacy of their office is all the time you have to tell them the only thing that matters most to you at that very moment. The heat is at your back and time is running out fast. What is it you would want them to know at that moment? What would you want them to hear?

What if you are going down instead of up…and you only have 7.9 seconds to make a plea from your heart? A plea no one may hear other than God, but that has to be spoken still. Maybe you spend those 7.9 seconds wondering where God is and why He is letting this happen. I can’t say what people would think; I can only wonder.

But the flames are at your back and time is fast running out. Fate offers no option, only a choice of how to reconcile that fate. You choose to step out of the smoking inferno, through a window and begin the 1000 ft. decent to the street below. You have 7.9 seconds to speak your last words. What would you want someone to hear? To know? To remember? Whom would you want to forgive? Whose forgiveness would you seek?

On September 11, 2001, this was the tragic fate of more than one person. I cannot in good conscience call their deaths suicides. They felt rescue had become an impossibility before the fire would consume them. They could go neither up nor down within the building. They felt their fate was sealed and the only control they had left was when and how they would die. And then some chose to be alone for their last 7.9 seconds.

I’m sure they never thought it would happen to them. They probably thought they’d die of old age in a nursing home someday and have time to make peace with whomever necessary. But that is not the way things went. Things may not go that way for you or me either.

Do you know what you would say if you only had 7.9 seconds left? Is that enough time for all you would need to say? If you don’t know what you would want to say, it’s time to give it some thought. If you think you will need more time, I suggest that you start speaking now. You may have more time than 7.9 seconds or only the time it takes to skid across the median and into oncoming traffic. I am certain of one thing though: you will be wishing for more time no matter how long you have. You will be seeking to die in peace and want enough time to find it.

Do you find yourself wondering just how long 7.9 seconds are? These last two carefully constructed sentences, read aloud, could be exactly that.

Don’t wait for that last 7.9 seconds to finally seek peace. There’s nothing that says you can’t start now. Do what needs to be done. Say what needs to be said. To die in merciful peace is desired; but, to live in peace by grace is a blessing. Show mercy and make peace now. Find peace now and live a blessed life. May God’s grace be upon all those lost on 9/11, and His peace be upon those who were left to mourn them.