Death

Death—a painful atrophy in life’s ethereal poise;

A fatal caveat served without mercy, without choice;

A de facto mystery with no respect for rank or age;

A supernatural pen that inscribes the final page.

A melancholy foe who wins each battle fought;

Who alters what once might have been into what now is not.

A sharp and final finish that no soul can comprehend;

A point of no return, indelible—the end.

And if it actually were the end, life’s aim would be obtuse.

And every thought-up sacred creed unveiled as a ruse.

Incalculable hours spent in study, prayer, and thought

Would suddenly lose value, debunked as a plot.

Fanatics who for many years held true midst shameful mocking

Would crumble with their shattered hopes—betrayed, their worlds rocking.

But glimpses here and visions there call millions to believe,

There’s more to life than living here, and death will let us see.

For some it marks the end of life; for some it is the start—

For those who made Messiah the Ruler of their heart.

To pass from life to life, for these there is no greater gain—

To enter life with Jesus and leave a life of pain.

When those who ran this holy race cross worlds and start to sing,

They’ll join the cloud of witnesses shouting “Death, where is thy sting?!”

Death is not our enemy; though painful, it’s our friend.

With permission not to vanquish us but liberate us to transcend.

Let us weep when death has carried some friend or kin away

For Jesus wept in sorrow as well at Lazarus’ grave one day.

But remember death is not the end; it's the entrance to forever.

It may separate our bodies, but our hearts it cannot severe.

For if we remain in Christ, someday death’s knock will sound once more,

But this time we will be the soul he’ll bear from shore to shore.

And when his work on earth is done, he’ll unite us once again

With our family, friends, and King Who’s brought us safely near to Him.

Take comfort weary soldier; take heart young, nimble soul!

Be not weary in well-doing; keep your eyes upon the goal.

Though syrens of this world would try to tell you life is here,

Remember death is coming, but remember without fear.

Live each day as all saints should with Heaven on your mind,

For fear of death will flee when you live ready all the time.

Walk the narrow way before you paved with Blood from God’s Own Son—

The Blood that’s borne others who have lived, and died, and won.

I cannot help but smile a bit, when death takes home a friend,

A wistful, peaceful smile for I know death is not the end….

A Heritage Have I

I was preparing prayer letters to send out about my TESOL trip this summer.  I've spent a decent bit of time on the project writing the letter, proofing it and printing it, figuring out how to do envelopes in Excel and Word, printing those, signing the letters and writing notes in them. But it's paid off.  Now all they need is stamps and they're ready to go.


The reason I write at all at this ridiculous hour of night, is because I am still awake first of all, but actually it is because I was struck by the people who have had an influence in my life.  As I was writing notes for the letters, there were several times when I was amazed at the influence a person had had on me.  Some of my greatest heroes are my Great Grandparents and my Grandpa Howard.  As I wrote notes to them, there were no words to do it justice, not when you have two, maybe three lines to write in.


I know that people have an influence on me, but it is cool to me to think of all the people who have had some part in shaping me into who I am today.  


I must carry on the heritage; the next generation needs to see me and say, there's an example of what I want to be.  I want to be somebody's hero someday.

A Thought for the Day (or Night)

In Ecclesiastes Solomon logs an account of the great variety of different things he tried in a search to be fulfilled in life.  His comes to this realization: "Vanity of vanities...; all is vanity."  


His final conclusion?  "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.  (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)


I like to remove the "optional" word "duty" in the last phrase.  It's one of those little italicized words in the KJV that was not in the original text, but was added for the sake of the interpretation.  Know what that means?  You can take it out.  Then it reads, "Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole of man."  


Everything we do must come second to this, our ultimate purpose in life.  There are many good things in life, but they are all intended by God to be enjoyed in the context of a relationship with God that puts Him first.  We will never be find true fulfillment in anything--work, play, school or learning, relationships with people, money, travel, etc.  Those are all things that are meant to be enjoyed within the context of a healthy relationship with God.  When we are content to "Fear God, and keep his commandments," we will find fulfillment whether we are able to do any of the other good things in life or not.


God designed it this way on purpose, and in Ecclesiastes we see an example of someone who tried it and prove how it works.  We will save ourselves a lot of pain in life if we can figure this out before we try to find our fulfillment in something other than God.

The Unavoidable "First Post"

I decided to start a new blog.  I don't even know how many blogs I've started over time.  Some of them, I'm sure, have long been deleted from the world of cyberspace because they sat so long without use that the sponsoring company decided it was not worth the hard drive space to store my meager number of posts.  Or maybe they haven't been deleted and they are still floating around out there somewhere.  Regardless, I decided to add to the two other blogs I have (that I remember) because the were hosted on a different server.  That isn't a problem except that I wanted to be able to follow my friends and let my friends follow me.  Assuming of course that anyone would care to read my ramblings.  


So now I have to write the "first post" of the blog.  Every blog has to have one.  I suppose I should make it some great, deep post, but it doesn't seem necessary.  What is a blog for after all?  It is just a place to express yourself.  Some people guard their expression carefully and keep it focused in some primary direction.  Other people post just about anything for just about anyone to read.  A blog may be used for encouragement or for tearing someone down.  It may be used to expressed inspiring thoughts or mindless nonsense.  Probably there is a place for almost all of these forms of expression.  The most important thing to remember is that we are to do all to the glory of God--this includes our blogging.  This means that my posts must not bring dishonor to the name of God no matter what they are about.


You may wonder about the random title of my blog.  First, I like to be random, and this was a thought that popped into my head randomly as I was trying to think of a blog title.  (As a side note, choosing a title for a blog can be stressful a bit!)  But as I thought about it a little bit, it began to grow on me.  We hear that "necessity is the mother of invention."  It's true.  How often someone has invented something purely for the accomplishment of some task or feat that was beyond current equipment.  But as more and more things are invented, we become more and more dependent on the inventions.  Suddenly I have to have my cell phone, internet, computer, or even just electric lights, running water, and air conditioning.  Inventions begin to run my life and I become dependent on them.  Could this be included in what Paul was saying when he urged us to temperance?  In 1 Corinthians 9:25a he said, "...every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things." (Italics added)  Peter enjoins us in 2 Peter 1:5-6, "And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness...."  (Italics added)  In Galatians Paul lists temperance as one of the Fruits of the Spirit and says, "...against such there is no law."  (5:23b)


I would often think of temperance to be something that has to do with eating, drinking, sleeping, talking, etc., but I believe from these Scriptures that it actually applies across a far broader area than simply those things.  It does seem to me that in some strange reversal of roles, invention has indeed become the mother of necessity, and far too often I, and I fear those around me in the modern church, have allowed "necessity" to control our lives.  We have become dependent, as has the world, on communication and instant access to information.  Not that there is anything wrong with the technology.  the problem comes when we allow it to control us--when it becomes a "need."  Far worse than simply virtual communication and information, we (and by "we" I point specifically at "me") have become severe wasters-of-time as we aimless wile away countless hours of our time reading unnecessary information, playing online games that accomplish nothing and have absolutely no point (this helps me "relax" or "kill time" that is not really mine to kill), or play virtual reality video games by the hour, many of which promote immoral lifestyles in some way or another.  Even in the church world we watch countless movies and TV shows in the name of entertainment, wasting time like we were never going to die.  


In 2009 the in home entertainment spending in the United States alone was $20,000,000,000 (twenty billion). That doesn't include public means of entertainment.  That is DVD's, Blu-ray disks, and digital entertainment alone.  (http://goo.gl/fOdxG)


It makes me cringe a bit to think of the time I have wasted doing nothing profitable.  But am I willing to do anything about it?  How many people have died without the Gospel while I wasted my money on selfish pleasures and my time doing things that didn't count in eternity?  Surely if people who have died without Christ can see us from Hell they are cursing us for our severe apathy--or more close to home, cursing me for my apathy....  


I sit in my room writing this post on my computer hooked up to broadband internet.  The sound of typing clicks gently over the gentle hum of the air conditioner in the background.  There are power cords running various places in my room.  A sink in the corner with running water.  I count a total of six different light fixtures in my room alone.  My cell phone sits in my pocket ready to connect me with the world at a moment's notice.  Just a few feet out my door there are full rest room facilities and a little further away a cafeteria where I can eat until I am more than satisfied.  Just a short drive away (assuming you own a car as so many people in the US do) there is a full array of shopping and restaurants.  But if I don't want to go anywhere, I can use my computer to order pizza or buy basically anything I could ever need from the comfort of my own room.


I am so blessed...or perhaps so cursed...with technology.  Maybe it is time for a change.  Maybe necessity needs to become the mother of invention again.  But maybe we need to redefine "necessity" as God would define it...if we had time to listen to Him between "busy" moments in our technological lives.