Eternity is a long, long time. It’s so long in fact, that any concept of time itself is meaningless – and all the words we use that relate to time, words like “before”, and “after”, and “until” – become meaningless as well. There is a YouTube documentary out there, superbly narrated by astrophysicist Doctor David Kipping, the end of which, in my opinion, is the best possible elucidation of eternal darkness (the outer darkness in scripture) one could ever imagine. The link is A Journey to the End of the Universe – – Video Search Results (yahoo.com). In the narrative, he postulates a theoretical trip on an imaginary manned spacecraft to what becomes the literal end of the universe. As expected from a proper scientist, he does not mention God, but nevertheless exhibits a near spiritual vision of what awaits his travelers, who I take the liberty to consider analogous to unbelievers. Indeed, the situation in which they find themselves at the end has definite spiritual ramifications. If you watch it with that in mind, it should be a definite wake-up call. Somewhere deep inside, one cannot help but believe Dr Kipping has (unintentionally?) encountered the profound realm of spirituality as may be ascertained from the conceptual, near poetic language with which he relates his story. What a powerful messenger for God he could be!
Today I’ve been 70 for two days. With the notable, yet unsurprising exception of humans continuing to determinedly expunge decency from the world, nothing overtly dramatic has happened since my birthday the day before yesterday. I’ve received Happy Birthday messages from people I love, and that means a lot and I thank all of you. This post is about some of the things I’ve learned during all those trips around the sun, as my dear niece so succinctly put the notion.
If you as a reader have paid attention to my ramblings on this site, you’ll have realized that I believe a healthy relationship with the Lord is of utmost importance in this phase of our existence, both for you and me. I’ve learned that growing in the knowledge (maybe familiarity is a better word) of Jesus is, as it should be, the consummate purpose of our lives whether or not we regard it as being so. So far, I’ve had seventy trips around that big ball of fusion to try and get that notion through my thick head. Sure, I think cognitive processions of life, scientific lore, world events, and history are important within their respective priority levels, but at the end of the day, having a clear conscience and coming to realize we have a friend, king, savior of unimaginable power, grace and love is by far more important to our existence than learning about the dedication with which Colonel Chamberlain defended Little Round Top or whatever level of strength our planet’s magnetic field has left.
We are each given a span of time here during which we have ample opportunity to seek our Savior. In the maternity ward when the nurses turn their backs, just imagine that an angel hangs an invisible tag our toe with a number on it. That figure is the precise number of heartbeats that particular body will attain, and it’s absolute. (I don’t remember if that concept is something I’ve heard before or if it’s just another thought that has rolled like soggy driftwood through this muddy old river between my ears, so I apologize if I’m plagiarizing someone else’s analogy). The only possible exception to this preset number of which I’ve ever heard was when King Hezekiah was informed of his impending demise and he prayed that God would extend his life for a while because evidently, he wasn’t quite ready to surrender, and God granted him more time to feed mosquitoes and remain captive to gravity. But even with God’s bountiful grace, I wouldn’t count on that deferment – He knows when it’s time for us to go. In short, and just as the flowers in the field, we have a set time to spend here, and we desperately need to get in touch with Jesus and learn of Him while we have opportunity.
As you know quite well, the world has become a massive tangle of confusion and it’s getting progressively harder to negotiate. (Try it at seventy). Most people have consciously chosen to proceed with their lives in purposeful ignorance of (and too often in contravention to) God’s ways. Especially with all of the distractions purposefully set out there. Life is comparable these days to a giant soap opera. It’s much more entertaining to keep up with nonsense like the financial adventures of the president’s relatives than to read up on prophecy or instructions on living a Godly life. Kids’ brains are progressively being turned into jelly from all the time they spend on Redditt or Instagram – and don’t even get me started on video games. We’re swamped with pornography and immorality of every imaginable sort. The days of Noah are indeed upon us.
War is raging in Europe with thousands of people dying weekly. France is burning; Africa is looking to come apart at the seams. Israelis are protesting by the tens of thousands. Germany is going broke. We continue to tiptoe on the edge of the nuclear razor. Kids watch half-naked girls dancing seductively to electronic music while their parents endlessly message each other with all the bizarre garbage that passes for information nowadays. Trust me, if ignorance is truly bliss then we are at the apex of paradise here in the USA! The whole world has gone absolutely insane! I gotta be missing something!
I walked outside this morning to a sultry August sunrise and spent some time watching beautiful little goldfinches leisurely feeding on my daughter’s sunflowers. There is a misty veil slowly drifting through a verdant Ozark calamity of woodland brush and vines. The silence is only superficially injured by birdsong; an indescribable fortune of Providence of which we here in the Ozarks are blessed to be part! I can but feel pity that so many souls with whom we share this planet are not so fortunate as to exist among, nor indeed to participate in, the grace of creation which we here in the country are daily blessed to enjoy. As I reflect with genuine sorrow on the horror of war, famine and other misfortune befalling so many people in this world, people just like you and me with wants and needs just like our own, but so unfortunate as to be in piteous situations not of their choosing, I thank God our neck of the woods is not visited with such horror – yet. I also harbor no doubt that it’s coming – how could He allow this iteration of Sodom and the sacrilegious behavior that today is so unabashedly propagated in our country to go unchallenged; unpunished? Do you think it is an accident that the very symbol of God’s promise – the rainbow – has become so perverted as to represent such indescribable abominations as it has today? Alas! And yet the little birds sing on…
Most all of our problems are the result of Satan’s taking advantage of human greed, lust – and pride. As the scriptures tell us, the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh and the pride of life do not come from God, but they are of this world, and those things are diametrically opposed to the way our Father expects us to think and behave. There are people in this world right now who spend all their time working (not real work, just in the scheming, greed-driven sense) to put more zeroes on the numbers in their bank accounts; the poor and hungry of the world be damned. These same people do their master’s bidding by promoting obnoxiously decadent and deviant behavior, smug in the knowledge that they have yachts and personal airplanes and “own” vulgar amounts of property – for now. Their execrable lifestyles will surely testify against them on the inevitable day of retribution, but for now they either simply ignore their fate, or they act as though they believe their dedication to Satan will carry the day. When the time comes, he will surely turn on them and even now tosses them their beloved lucre while laughing at their naivety.
For the rest of us – well stand fast in your faith in Jesus Christ with full confidence that He will return to this world bringing justice – and reward – for our patience and our love for Him and for each other. He even admonishes us to love those with whom we don’t agree. We don’t have to love their sinful behavior though. Do not lose hope; He said He would be back to claim His own, and He absolutely and forever will do as He says. And as for our journey among the current ills of the world – what a wonderful alternative we have the capacity to choose – peace of mind in the assurance of everlasting joy and comfort, and above all the incomprehensible and unwavering love that is the Lord in His blessed, glorious and mighty presence, forever!
Amen.
Hang in there, y’all.