There’s a creek running across the property that comes from up in the woods. It starts up on the neighbor’s land high up the ridge and empties into the big creek in the bottom of the holler. The resident old-timer out here says there was an old sawmill up there, somewhere close to where the neighbor’s property and our land meet, but there’s no sign of it today. There’s an old, galvanized tub in the creek bottom where I suspect the mill might have been, but I don’t have any idea whether that rusty old tub had anything to do with a sawmill, but who knows? Anyways, whether it did or not, it’s the only sign of anything man-made out there.
I like to walk up there and enjoy the serenity – it’s one of those places where you can chill out and get your thoughts together – and enjoy the company of Jesus. He’s always there to hang out with me and listen to my problems and accept my thanks for the place, but mostly He’s just simply there. And that’s more than a mouthful to try and get across to a person who doesn’t know Him. It’s hard to explain, this faith I have, but it’s real. If you haven’t experienced His wonderful presence, don’t let any more of your life pass by without getting to know Him. You will never regret a moment of it.
One day – and I’m pretty sure it’s going to be soon – we’re going to see Him return in all of His glory. Most of us have a vision of Him as a lowly carpenter, a preacher with no wealth or standing in society, but trust me when He comes back, the world is in for the biggest shock of all time. Our Savior will be the most glorious, powerful figure you could ever imagine. Although everyone on earth will be completely awestruck, unimaginable fear will overwhelm the hearts of all who denied Him. At the moment we see him, we will realize just how puny all of our weapons – in fact, all of the pursuits and accomplishments of mankind through all of history – really are. The very skies will be opened in a flash of dazzling brilliance as multitudes of angels fill the whole realm of space, time, and thought. It will be huge! Incredible lightning, thunderous voices of fearsome angels will resound and echo across the universe, and a Savior come to claim His own and exact vengeance upon all who chose to be servants of the stranger who has wreaked havoc on His people for all the years. It will be a fearsome thing to fall into the hands of the living God!
As I stroll through the peaceful, silent woods, I think of the contrast on that day when human beings, those who survive the horrors of tribulation, flaming hailstones, pestilence, disease, war, and all of the other horrors that will have been unleashed upon humanity, will literally cry out – some in fear, but some few in sheer delight and relief. Amid scenes of destruction and horror that the mind cannot fathom, mighty men will scurry into their holes in the earth in piteous and futile attempts to hide from the face of this God who is filled with wrath and indignation. The righteous, those who have been faithful to Him, will be able to stand and face Him with unimaginable joy in their hearts. What kind of thoughts will His people experience, seeing those fellows who were the “elite” – those whose riches gave them mastery of armies and nations? I’m pretty sure we’ll pity them at that time. But do you know what? Anticipating the horror they will go through at the judgement of God, we should pity them now.
A human soul is worth more than the value of the whole world to the Lord. As I watch a gentle southern breeze caress the budding trees, I can feel the tenderness with which He nurtures us. He really doesn’t want any of us to perish and it goes against His design, even for souls of the rich to be lost. His tender mercy is revealed to us in so many ways, it’s a shame that Satan has deceived so many and that they disregard the opportunity for becoming saved so that they would have opportunity to spend all of eternity in the presence of absolute joy and love. Jesus said that (human) eyes have not seen, nor ears heard, nor has entered into the mind of man the joy that awaits those who love the Lord. Let that one sink in.
I know there are many folks who don’t know what it’s like to enjoy a day out in the woods, watching the thrushes flit about, hearing the beautifully insane call of the pileated woodpecker echo through the holler, maybe catching a glimpse of a shy doe strolling through the glen with her curious fawn in tow. For those folks, I feel pity, because some of the most wonderful experiences of life are being missed. God is out here in His creation, and although He’s a lot harder to find in some big city with sirens and horns blaring, He’s there too, nevertheless. I’ve written posts about such like Where the Poor Go to Weep – Folk Potpourri and Thoughts on Creation on a Beautiful Spring Morning – Folk Potpourri in which I try to share this country experience in spirituality with folks who don’t have opportunity to see it for themselves. Mostly though, I try to get people to thinking about what lies ahead, after we finish with this stage of existence and enter into the next.
I constantly read people’s opinions on social media chats and such and I pay particular attention to the endless comments of those who claim not to believe in God or the afterlife, they put forth arguments that sound reasonable enough if one insists on ignoring evidence of God’s presence. I guess it’s easy enough to disregard people like me who keep trying to help them open their eyes, but us guys who are sincerely trying to get them to take a serious look are doing it from our hearts. The Lord has given us faith – a precious commodity, and indeed, we believers realize just how precious it is, but we can’t go so far as to put our own thoughts – our own faith – into other people’s heads. Once in a while I have the heart-lifting experience of running across someone who is willing to actually give thought to the possibility of the existence of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and even though they don’t usually immediately become believers, you can tell that God is at work in their heart and if they continue with their honest curiosity, it will only be a matter of time. “Blessed are the pure at heart, for they shall see God.” I pray earnestly for these folks.
If only people could hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and understand that He is exactly who He says He is, if all of us could just trust that the Gospel of His life, death, and resurrection is the absolute truth, and that He is the Son of God who came here to the earth to teach us of a better way and to be the ultimate Sacrifice Who would make it possible for us to connect with the Heavenly Father, what a joyous and peaceful life they could enjoy! There would be no need to succumb to the macabre fear that is darkening the world today. He promised us that as believers we have nothing to fear – we must focus, and stay focused, on what lies ahead after this life, this world which is no more than a test in which we must decide where we choose to spend eternity.
Ignore the foolish people and so-called evangelists – obscene, wealthy fellows who preach no more than distractions from Christ. Incredibly, they are some of the principal elements of Satan’s attack on goodness, wholesomeness, righteousness, and many are those who are ensnared by them. Jesus told us that the gate is wide that leads to destruction. I get a mental image of a huge herd of sheep all being led through a huge wide gate into what they presume will be a wonderful pasture, but they cannot see in beyond the gate. In reality, what awaits them is a great, dark abyss for which they are ignorantly, but not innocently, heading. Then there are a few sheep fighting their way out of the crowd, often enough through some serious obstacles, but they are on their way to a narrow, tiny gate beyond which they, through faith, know an unimaginable paradise lies. They will not be distracted, they hear and know their Shepherd’s voice, a voice to which the big crowd never listened; those ones don’t know His voice at all, by their own choice, even most of the folks who claim to know Him only listen only the deceiving voices of their false preachers.
In God’s grand scheme, and as we are admonished in the Bible, this life we currently live is a very short moment in time. In fact, if there was any such thing as a graph depicting eternity, a dot representing all of human existence wouldn’t even be detectable on it. The time that has passed since Jesus ascended to Heaven is but a brief moment, maybe like you’d think about going to the grocery store and coming home. The Bible constantly speaks of the fact that we are living in the last days, not as we imagine the last days, but as God sees it. When we think of “last days”, we think months or weeks, or maybe even a few years, but when the Word mentions the last days, even though there are many references to the end times as we understand them, He is most often talking about the entire period of time after Jesus appeared and left to go to Heaven. As we watch the dark times that are enveloping the whole world right now, I believe that we are approaching the last days as we humans think of them, in other words, I believe the time is drawing nigh for our encounter with eternity, and that some – maybe even most – of us alive today will see it in our lifetime, possibly very soon.
Imagine the apocalyptic happenings when Heaven and His host is revealed. Mighty Angels with thunderous voices making great proclamations, intense, never-before witnessed lightnings, earthquakes, the very heavens shaken with the mighty and angry Creator of all things looking down in extreme wrath. Now imagine that the anger of this awesome Being is directed at you – when you find yourself in the unenviable position of having chosen to be His adversary because you rejected His Son. His beloved Son who had to die an excruciating death in which the very heavens were agonized, on a cross long ago just so you could be saved, but even after He went through all that, you rejected Him.
Even though Jesus was dying, hanging by the cruel nails onto that cross in what had to be excruciating pain, such was His unimaginable love for mankind – even His tormentors – His last thoughts were to pray to the Father for their forgiveness – yes, He loved them (and us) that much! His unbelievable love is the most potent force in all of creation, God Himself is Love. When a person becomes a believer in Jesus and makes the decision to follow Him, that person begins the process of immersing himself/herself in that profound universe of God’s infinite love and will forever live in His blessed presence!
We have opportunity while we’re here on earth to experience small glimpses of His love. We can see it in a dogwood bloom, or hear it on a summer evening whippoorwill song echoing through the holler. When you see a newborn fawn wobbling up to his mother in a peaceful green meadow, you see God’s handiwork. This is the world God intended for us to inhabit and enjoy, and though most who read these posts don’t get to see things like this, I’m happy to share the experience as much as my words allow. I’m happier to share the experience of knowing Jesus though. Being able to get to know Him is the most important thing in this existence, and I hope and pray the readers will do so. Get yourself ready so you don’t have to find yourself in fear and dread on that awesome day when He returns. You’ll be forever glad you did.
Now I have to go out and check on the progress of this year’s dogwood bloom – it looks to be another nice one.
God bless you all.
MK
