Tag Archives: God

Wake up, America!

The news you choose to ignore, those reports coming out of Africa, the Middle East, Indonesia, South America – the killings, mutilations, rapes, beheadings, genocide, famine, pestilence, epidemics – they exist. And they’re growing in frequency. Just because you find the words and images disturbing, distressing, upsetting, bothersome, and distasteful doesn’t mean they aren’t real. Just because they upset your sensibilities, make your nose wrinkle with repugnance, and don’t touch you personally doesn’t mean they’ll go away if you ignore them.

News Flash: Terrorism has already come to the United States. Terrorists have breached our defenses. Heinous acts are being perpetrated on our own soil, and we’re playing the stupid, foolish game of political correctness.

Look at this list of terrorism acts that occurred inside our borders since 9/11, all of them with ties to Islamic extremists. Remember the headlines? Note also the deaths reported DON’T include the even larger number of victims injured in these attacks.

September 2001 – New York City, Washington, DC – terrorists attack the Twin Towers and Pentagon killing 2, 974; July 2002 – Los Angeles – gunman kills 2 at LAX airport; June 2009 – Little Rock – gunman kills 1 in attack at military recruiting center; August 2009 – Fort Hood – gunman kills 13 on military base; April 2013 – Boston – bombers kill 3 at Boston Marathon; July 2015 – Chattanooga – gunman kills 5 servicemen at military recruiting center;  December 2015 – two gunmen kill 14 at office Christmas party; and the latest,  June 2016 – Orlando – gunman kills 49 at nightclub.

This list is far from inclusive. Many more attacks than those listed above have occurred on U.S. soil, but didn’t quite make headlines because the impact value didn’t measure up to the news media’s drama quotient. You see, Shock & Awe sells. The problem with this tactic is that after a while, Shock & Awe no longer shocks. Or awes. After repeated exposure, it loses its impact, becomes mundane, commonplace, ho-hum. Which means the news outlets have to up the ante, raise the bar in a constant search for the sensational, the higher death tolls, worse atrocities, more depravity, evil and wickedness that assaults our hardened senses. Anything to achieve enough outrage to draw viewers and readers.

Where does it all end? Well, the end may be closer than you think. Ever hear of The Tytler Cycle? It dates back to the 1700s.

Tytler Cycle

I’m afraid, so very afraid. Our forefathers in 1776 paid a precious price in blood, paid with their lives to leave bondage behind and live in freedom. The Roman Empire lasted 1,400 years from rise to fall. Today, in 2016, in just over 200 years, the United States is about to come full circle. We’re staring in the face of a government bondage, one of our own making because of lethargy, indifference, and laziness. We’re already well down that path, a slippery slope that will be nearly impossible to reverse.

Christians have claimed forever that “The End Times” are here, so why hasn’t this God of Judgment zapped us by now?

Let me put it in a way you can relate. Don’t we want the best for our children? Don’t we love them and forgive them over and over? Don’t we give them every chance to do right? To conform? To obey?

God the Father does, too. God is patient and long-suffering, far beyond what our flawed human minds can comprehend. He wants no one to perish – not the murderer, the terrorist, the rapist, the liar, the thief; not the Jew, the Christian, or the Muslim; not even the “good.” For the same reason He promised in the Old Testament to give Abraham’s descendants the land of Canaan forever … but said they would have to wait for 400 years.  Why?

For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” Genesis 15:16.

(The Amorites, who no longer exist, were a wicked people who occupied the land at the time of God’s promise to Abraham.)

God wants no one to perish, but there is a Day of Reckoning. At some point, a time only He knows, enough is enough.

 

FINDING PEACE

 

Is there a “peace that passes all understanding?

I don’t know if I’m normal … or even what normal is. I just know that every morning, from the moment I wake, my head buzzes with thousands of thoughts, ideas, regrets, wishes, hopes, plans, uh-ohs, reworked conversations, edits of everything I read, lists, and prayers. Lots of prayers. You see, I’m a writer. And writers write. All the time. Especially in our mind.

Some days I find this buzz overwhelming. Some days I need an escape, to shut down, and reboot. I need a refuge. My journey has taken years, decades even, but I’ve found that by seeking my refuge first thing upon awakening, that my days go much smoother.

Like many others, I start my mornings with quiet time. Some people fill their quiet time with prayers and Bible study, communing with Jesus, ordering their day and balance. I do all of the above … and then some. But the journey hasn’t been smooth.

PeaceAt first I visualized an idyllic mountain meadow. Picture if you can a narrow path through dark woods. Just when you think you’re lost forever, a light ahead beckons. The trail opens onto a clearing where golden sunlight spills down. You lift your face and feel the warmth as you make your way to the center of the glen. Green grass and knee-high wildflowers abound. You drop to the ground and watch a caravan of puffy clouds sail across the sky. A gentle breeze stirs an earthy mix of verdant soil, sweet blossoms, and clean, rarified air. You’ve found it. Tranquility. Peace. Contentment … and an itch. Something digs into your back. You scratch. Brush away dirt. And remember the overflowing laundry hamper. The dermatology appointment you still need to make. The meal you promised to a sick friend. Your mind is off to the races.

I tried for a long time to make the remote glen idea work but finally gave up. Thinking a more familiar place might work better, I traveled in my mind to the beach—a remote, Caribbean island. Barefoot under the blazing sun, but the sugar-white sand doesn’t burn. (Imagination always trumps reality!) Turquoise water that sparkles with cool promises. Peace - 2Frothy waves lapping at the shore. A sea breeze stirs the air, redolent with the scents of coconut, lush vegetation and the briny smell that only comes from the ocean. A small slice of heaven. And then a crab crawls by. Clumps of dead seaweed wash up on the beach. An alert lifeguard stands from his ten-foot-tall white watchtower to peer out at the expanse. He raises binoculars to his eyes. Blue paste coats his nose. He wears a whistle around his neck. Alert. Diligent. Protective. Because there are riptides. Undertows. Dangerous sea creatures. And predators hiding in the deep. No calm here.

I tried another place. Somewhere remote. Somewhere pure and free from Peace - 3the world. A winter wonderland decked out in a blanket of pristine snow. Cold no germ could survive. But I could—in a warm parka with a hood trimmed in fur. Gloved and booted, I revel in the beauty of an untouched paradise. Until I fell through the snow. Buried. With no sense of direction. And no one to save me.

I’ve stored a whole library of such reveries, all lessons learned over the years until I finally found the real refuge. The only refuge. You see, our world is beautiful—just look around you. But sin afflicted all of mankind, all of the earth, including the animals and vegetation. Just as Esau forfeited his birthright, so too did Adam trade away our heritage in a moment of rebellion. Satan now holds dominion over an earth God bequeathed to man. There is no refuge for us here. Especially not in our minds.

I looked in all the wrong places for the peace that passes understanding only to realize at long last that it doesn’t exist here on earth. Now, I go to Jesus—to His throne room in heaven where His glory spreads a Peace - 4warmth and light so much greater than anything the sun can produce. Where multitudes crowd around Him singing praises. I creep into my niche at the rear of the throng, grateful to just be allowed in. It’s where I feel Him. And then He seeks me out in my little corner, takes my hand, and raises me up. I’m filled with His indescribable and unexplainable peace. Restored. Refreshed. Strengthened. For a little while, all is calm and perfect. When I leave His perfect presence, all I have to do to get through the rest of the day is remember my time with Him, remember His words, and call upon His name.

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you  …” ~John 14:27