"And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of heaven!'…It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God." (The Parable of the Rich Young Ruler: Mark 10:17-31)

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him. "Good teacher," the man asked, with a glance at his watch (he had only 10 minutes before his next appointment), "what must I do to get eternal life? I could really use more time."

"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good except…" The man's cell phone rang. "Hello? Hey, Sam. Listen, I'm, uh, right in the middle of something. Sort of a time management thing. You gonna be at this number for a while? Great. I'll call you right back."

Jesus waited patiently for the young man to finish the call. Then he said, "You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'"

The young man flipped open his planner and began scribbling. Halfway through the list, he stopped writing and looked up, puzzled. "Teacher, those things have been on my quadrant two list since I got my first planner. I mean, I've been doing this stuff since I was a kid. Is that it? What else do I need to do?"

Then the man's beeper went off. He reached for his belt and turned off the ringer, glancing at the number as he did so. Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," Jesus said. "Go clear your schedule of all your self-important activity. Then come and give all of your time to me. Let me order your days. Fill your life with what really matters. Follow me."

The man's face fell. He glanced again at his watch, closed his planner, and shook his head. He had really hoped this Jesus might give him some great new time-saving tips. But this? He gave Jesus' hand a quick shake and said, "Hey, maybe we can do lunch sometime." Then he hurried away, for he had a great many things to do and places to go and people to see.

Jesus looked around and said, "How hard it is for the busy to enter the kingdom of God!" The disciples were jolted by his words. But Jesus said again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a busy man to enter the kingdom of God."

The disciples were even more shocked, and said to each other, "What about the whole Protestant-work-ethic thing? Who then can be saved?"

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."

Peter said to him, "We have cleared our schedules of everything to follow you!"

Jesus smiled and put his arm around Peter's shoulder. "I tell you the truth, no one who has sacrificed to clear his schedule in order to make room for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundredfold more time in this present age, and, in the age to come, time without end – and every bit of it brimming over with meaning and significance.