Thursday, November 24, 2016
Monday, November 21, 2016
Thinking about my Vanishing Point in life
My Vanishing Point
Today, God’s covenants were never broken. He kept his part of
the promise to give me life to the fullest if I accepted Him and His Son, Jesus
Christ into my life. Two covenants made decades ago when I starred the fate of death right into the face
of darkness as evil surrounded me and no exit to the light was shown except the
path of accepting God as my Lord and Savior.
At that moment, I saw a vision of God or His Angels. Out of
the deep of death, came life and hope. The star above guided me to the ways of
going to heaven. Thinking of my parents,
who passed away beyond the human vanishing points in life, I began to realize
the reality they are still alive but in another form of life as promised by our
Father, our God, and Lord.
At a split moment, the thoughts of death vanished into the air
as my heart was filled with of living and bringing my soul back to where it
could be in tune with my mind as the
stare of death was flushed from my eyes and the touch of the light warmed my
flesh.
Trying to wrap my head around the concept of the hell and
horrors of war around me, I grabbed onto the fact that God is love and love is God. This by itself brought to me the love
for life and the passion for living longer with his spiritual guidance by my
side.
No longer was this a futile endeavor to survive the horror
around me and as I promised my eternal word to serve the Lord, the concept of
eternity began to shape inside my head. Suddenly, the thoughts of death vanished
as the fruits of hope gathered strength to bring the past to an end and start a
new beginning.
Thus in my own experience, I went from a vanishing point to
another vanishing point in a flash of a second when God and His Angels saved me
from certain death. Without dwelling into my Vietnam War experiences, I can
honestly say I saw visions of death and of life – both very excruciating to watch.
Reflecting those moments almost constantly throughout my life,
I know that God is always by my side and never once left me alone. Put into
words that make more sense, the moment I made my promise to God, I knew that my
life would be everlasting taking me from the vanishing point of the past to the
vanishing point of the future.
Of course, the vanishing points refer to manmade vanishing
points, not God’s. We know that God’s time and space are eternal and our time is limited on Earth unlike it is in
Heaven. This made me think that God was eternal. It made me realize that God
had eternity in His heart.
I knew as long as I kept my promise to serve Him, my pledge
and His covenant to bring me eternal life would remain intact and bring me the ultimate
blessings sought for in my life.
There were no thoughts of my cheated continuous existence here on Earth before vanishing beforehand in my
time and space as I was being faithful
to Him and that my mortality lasted only as long as I lived but that it would
be revitalized with eternally lasting existence after my time on Earth is done.
Without having a panicking moment, I knew that God lasted well
beyond the end of my life and that my eternal life depended upon a God who is from
everlasting to everlasting just like the good book teaches us it to be. This is
where my vanishing point comes into play – thinking about eternity today.
If the vanishing point in life is manmade then there is no
vanishing point for God then all evidence points to the fact that He is eternal.
His time and space are defined by infinity and if you multiply infinity by
infinity you still get infinity. For a person, infinity is the largest number
there is except for infinity plus one.
Thinking about eternity is a lot to deal with. For my whole
life, I was made a creature of time and space. I only thought of time and space
as the environment and the surrounding elements dictated to me. There was no
wiggle room as science had mandated we live in time zones and by the clock. In other
words, I can only think in terms of time.
Trying to grasp that God is up above and beyond time while at
the same time in the middle of time is hard to imagine or accept. If I didn’t
have the faith I have in God, I just
can’t do it! But then, I don’t really need to understand what this is all
about as I let my faith carry me through the difficult moments and logical thinking.
All I need to know is that my time and my times and my
eternity is linked up to the God who is eternal. This translated that all of
the time from Genesis 1:1 to the last page
of Revelations is what the world is all about and then gone as human time vanishes
but God’s time is everlasting. Eternal means Everlasting, forever, unto
perpetuity, the world without end.
I am eternal because my immortality is linked to the eternal
of Jesus Christ. Because He is eternal, I too am eternal in Him.Thus
my vanishing point only exists in my home, and my future as I exist in the mortal
world of time and space. With His covenant of eternal life, I can rest in the assurance that my eternalness has no end no matter
how I may feel as a human when my time to die comes. I have my home in Him. My
future is safe with Him. I can rest in the assurance that my
eternalness never has an end because
God’s eternalness never has an end.
So as I found God in my youth days, the vanishing point of my
life has been a little concern for me as I
knew as long as I kept my promise to Him, He would keep His promise to me – that being that I will live
eternally and dwell in His home. Needless to say, this gave me quite a bit of confidence
in my mortality and gave me the energy and spirit to take chances in life. I remember
the pleasure I received from knowing my Creator is watching over me and that
all is set for me to pass on without any obstacles and freedoms to join those
who passed away before me.
Now, the years draw near and the vanishing point of time and
space are closing in on me. Causing me some anxiety to the degree of not
wanting to burden my loved one with all the care and arrangements needed to take
care of me when I die, I can find comfort in the fact that it will all be done
right and that the eternal flame of life is waiting for me.
Rightfully so, I spend more time watching the moon, the stars, and the universe
up above me. I rightfully feel that I will
be up there soon and as I draw nearer to that vanishing point moment, I do not
tremble with fear. I know that soon, the light of the sun will darken, the stars
will shine brightly and the silence will come with joyous sounds of heaven. This
is my eternal journey that I am waiting for – this is beyond any vanishing
point man can make in time or space.
But I am also certain that this will not come before God’s
plan for me is finished. I know that every step of His plan is dynamic and
moving into the right direction. Therefore I know the sun will not darken
before the time of eternity is here. Even after the clouds darken and the rain
and thunder come near, I know that until
the right time comes, I will not vanish from here or anywhere else until it is
time to go.
As I walk down the streets of life, I see strong men bow to others
with humility and honor. I see them show compassion and love to those less
fortunate than them and offer them the warmth of their spirits of hope. I pray
that their homes are not made of doors and windows that shut closed forever. That
their hearts remain open and their fears remain small as the birds come up to
them closely and eat the bread crumbs right out of their hands trusting them with their lives and well-being.
As the final days of my
promised blissful human life passes slowly, a stare of death brings the
realization of a vanishing loneliness as harsh as the
coldest most bitter winter is it flushes my eyes with the tears of aging beyond
the light of the most solitary star in the universe. To feel alone in a sea
filled with other creatures is depressing and gloomy as my spirits had sunk as
low as the bottom of the sea. Lying there, below the third layer of my wrinkled
skin is the bountiful hope of eternal bliss awaiting the end. Although it would
be a lie to say I fear no fear, it is true that the fear I have is not what
will happen to be but what I leave behind.
We all want to leave a legacy of love, hope and charity behind
for those who follow us into the promised land. We all pray of dreams coming
true and giving our loved ones the bliss they rightfully deserve and pray for. So
as I find my vanishing point coming nearer and nearer, I am preparing my soul for my life
that God has promised me. For the eternal life is coming and the blessings
received are well worth the waiting. Amen.
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Fear, the realities versus the Imaginary
Fear – what’s it all about?
Times have changed – what has become a
culture of courage has become a generation of fear – kids today cannot climb
into their beds without checking the closet or under their beds first. Fear has
become the dominant factor in the world. What was once generations of
courageous and brave people have become a cultural phenomenon known as generations
of baby cries and whiners. Exceptions to the rule are noted for many good kids
know the differences because of good parenting.
I never climbed into bed without
checking the closet or checking under the bed first. I climbed into the bed undauntingly
and closed my eyes to go to sleep. Looking forward to my dreams whether they were
good or bad or evil. The bed was as safe a place as any other place. There were
no designated ‘safe places’ at school, at work or anywhere else including the parks
where we played.
Yes, we had the boogie man, we had the
witches of bad and the legends of horror just like anyone else did but the
difference was we didn’t go to sleep with them as companions and partners in
life. What has changed is the game of hide and seek with an added touch of horror
that creates terror, anxiety and excruciating horror to make the game more
exciting.
In the past, we made sure there was
enough distance between imaginary and reality to go to sleep with peace. In our
house, the closet door was never left open and the bed was never checked. There
was no fear of anyone hiding near and causing fear inside our heads and hearts.
So how did all their fear foster, materialize
and become such a gross factor in our lives? What single source can we point to
and say, that’s what caused the child to be afraid? How do we resolve all this
fear mongering by movies, television series, the news and the stories repeated
by grown adults to their children?
It is with a certain degree of fact
that these fears materialized and caused nightmares because of too many ghost
stories, too much violence in the movies and television series that should be
rated to exclude children but under today’s parental guidance, ignored and
allowed until they are old enough to understand the difference between
Hollywood and reality.
Our brains have been manipulated,
orchestrated and fabricated with lies rather than truths. Kids today can hardly
tell the difference between real and imaginary. This line is so thin, they are
acting out what could be a matter of life and death without knowing the consequences
for such behaviors.
Whether the games played are ‘Call to
Duty’ or joining others playing the ‘Ouija Board,’ the memory of the movie ‘Exorcist’
and many others such as ‘Chain Saw Massacre’ are fresh in the heads of children
to be real. ‘Freddy Kruger’ is real, the hockey mask of ‘Jason’ can be related
to other violence inducted parts of our entertainment world but the reality is
rarely divided into fiction and non-fictional characters or events. It seems that
children (and adults) are attracted to things that freak them out.
With special effects and “Walking Dead”
scenarios on TV daily, the thoughts of violence acted out is never left alone.
It thrives in the minds of our children who repeat this to other children and
make a game of it.
Sadly, because of their imagination and
unconnected links to realities they are not worried or fearsome of the more
realistic things in life such as family being sick or dying or even hurt – physically
or emotionally. This dumbing down is also numbing down generations. We have
become immune to the real-world fears and struck a partnership with artificially
created fears that seldom exist in real life.
So, as we deal with the reality and
imaginary worlds around us, our children fear body parts being thrown all over the
place, head decapitated and blood gushing out of all body extremities and
organs. This is the supernatural and popular culture that dominates today’s
thinking and mindset. Few people believe in the reality that this is all
created by the spreading of falsehoods, myths and legends. The lies have become
the truths in many such cases.
So, as it stands, more people are drawn
to horror and the paranormal than the non-fictional genre of books, movies and
other forms of entertainment. This explains why people seek excitement in their
lives through artificial means. They want to experience the fear because it
gives them harmonic pleasure with their hormones and their dopamine and
endorphins that gives them the ‘fight or flight’ sensation as a response.
Thus, it has become the goal of new
generations to seek a ‘thrill’ by inducing a chemical rush otherwise known to
us as a good scare but without the touch of reality it was supposed to bring
when presented. In all practical senses, being scared while being in a ‘safe
zone’ is moronic as it serves no purpose other than knowing the threat is not
real. Perhaps this is where the answer lies in this oxymoronic situation. We induce
fear to be scared under controlled circumstances and conditions that keeps us
safe.
How dangerous is this when the
conditions or circumstances change in the real world. One can see the traumatic
impact of such misalignments of emotions and the harm it causes. The scary
element of such excitement is the fact that this may be a backdrop or them of
good versus the evil with the person, young or old, persevering in the face of adversity
and dealing with the imaginary rather than the real world.
Making Peace -
The world is in turmoil today, more than ever. Whatever we do, say or think has become an obstacle to someone else’s feelings. They are offended so easily today, they literally cry when affected by our words or actions.
Crying and whining like a baby as if they never felt pain before. Handling adversity, a change of opinion or approach and disagreement has become a traumatic experience for many. It has almost reached a ridiculous stage in your life to be so easily offended by words or things around you.
Rather than becoming weaker, become stronger and the way you become stronger is to join those who seek peace. Think about making peace with God and then move along and make peace with family and friends and even strangers. I believe that if you begin to make peace with God, yourself and others, you will become clear in mind and focused on the good rather than the bad.
If you ask God for peace, then peace you shall receive and join other peacemakers. I believe that if you ask God to help you be a peacemaker, if you will stop being so vulnerable to the ideas and thoughts of others, He will supernaturally cause that urge to be offended will be extinguished.
Peace and unity are so important because we have an enemy who is after this generation. Remember, the Bible tells us that blessed are the peacemakers. When we dwell together in unity, we honor God and open the door for His hand of blessing in every area of our lives! Make this day the day you find your peace with God - it's well worth the effort to be a peacemaker - the rewards are plentiful blessings.
"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." (Matthew 5:9, KJV)
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