Every Breath You Take: A Thought

Drawing in a sharp gasp, I suddenly lose my grip.
The air around me begins to move, faster and faster, until there is a vibrating hum in my ear. My heart has quickly re-positioned itself in my throat, and my other internal organs fight to follow suit. I am free falling. With no control over my surroundings, my mind attempts to rationalize escape. Eventually, it issues a verdict: there is no hope. Completely subject to the whims of gravity, I am being harshly returned to my proper place on solid ground.
Whether I arrive there dead or alive is not important.

Although it is only a matter of seconds, it may as well be days. The constraining regulations of time have been abolished, and as the trees below become larger, their branches reach out to me, welcoming my fate with outstretched arms.
I have always heard people say that if you die in your dreams, you have actually died in real life. This is quite false. I have blown up on Mars and watched my limbs scatter through space, been run over by a fire truck, been chased by a clown into an elevator shaft, and been flung off the top of a roller-coaster. Each time this has happened, I have still managed to wake up with all of my body parts intact and my heart beating: a little bit faster than normal, maybe, but beating all the same. After a couple minutes, the gears of my sleepy brain begin to work again, and a feeling of total joy washes over me: I am ALIVE. Not “alive”, the small adjective found in a dictionary. ALIVE. All caps. There is blood flowing through my veins at this very moment. I am in my own bed, not dangling off the edge of a cliff. The air around me tastes much sweeter, and the dull glow of the clock radio next to me much friendlier. Why is it that so many people today do not know what it feels like to really be alive? We cannot wait for a nightmare to teach us how important each breath we take is.

I have grown up indoctrinated with the phrase, “Every day is a gift from God.” Upon hearing this, I automatically visualize the words coming sweetly from the lips of an 80-year old woman, with red lipstick on her false teeth, smelling strongly of body odor and bad perfume. I can’t help myself. It is just one of those cliché phrases that you have heard so often, you become indifferent to it. But when you step back and look at the words, really look at them, they begin to become something more.
We understand that there are twenty-four hours in a day. Twenty-four hours of existence on this earth that we, in and of ourselves, have no real control over. It is all God. It is all a gift that he, in his divine grace, is handing to us. So often, we are not proper stewards of our hours on earth. We waste them on ourselves: in the perusal and fulfillment of our selfish desires. Now it is time to stop and think. What would the world look like if every person who claimed to be a Christian devoted every moment of every day to the soul purpose of glorifying God and serving the least of these? The outcome would be revolutionary. We need to look beyond the mirror that sits in front of us and see the world behind it: a world that is in shambles and calling out for help. I recently heard the quote, “If we are the light of the world, than why is the world so dark?” As Christians, “little Christ’s” as the word literally means, we must strive to emulate Jesus in our daily lives. Our Lord did not spend his time on the earth earning money so he could purchase the latest Apple toy, spend a week tanning in Hawaii, or outfit himself in the latest trendy sweater. Not that these things are inherently wrong, but if the motive is for nothing but personal gain, we must be willing to step back and re-evaluate ourselves.

Jesus spent His time in the grime and dirt of society, serving the social outcasts and those in need: whether they be lepers, prostitutes, Samaritans, or tax collectors. Instead of following His example, we sit in the comforts of our home and watch orphans dying from aids in Africa, homeless men lining the streets, and people clinging to trees as a hurricane destroys everything all their earthly possessions. “What a pity,” we muse, eyebrows furrowed, while sipping our Starbucks. And then we drop a couple quarters in the plastic bucket that the man outside Safeway is holding. We tithe regularly, don’t we? And heck, we even sponsor a child in Africa for $10 a month. We are “good” Christians, willing to help the needy… until it becomes an inconvenience. I am in no way decreeing that every person drop what they are doing and join the Peace Core, or become missionaries to Tibet. No, all I ask is that each one of us reflect upon our lives and search our hearts in accordance with God’s will. We must be always willing to step out of our comfort zone when it comes to reaching the lost in the name of Christ.
When we give our lives to Christ, we recognize that each minute on this earth is not our own, but God’s. Therefore when we waste our time on things that do not glorify Him, we are in essence mocking our Creator. Living a life worthy of the calling of our faith, inside of God’s will: this is what it truly means to be alive

1 John 1:5-7

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

If we look at 1 John 1:5-7, the Apostle John makes it clear that GOD is equal to LIGHT. This is not meant as a literal comparison, to all of you who, after reading that, immediately got up and started worshiping your 75 volt light bulb. It's an analogy meant to give us a picture of God in the truest form- a pure infiltrating luminance that banishes the black shadows of evil. The passage goes on to say that in Him, there is no darkness at all. He is the definition of everything light is, and sin cannot be anywhere near Him. He is absolutely pure and holy. He radiates glory.

The second part of the passage hits us at a more personal level. John makes a statement that causes readers to do a double take. “If we claim to have fellowship with him, yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.” Here, he is taking the analogy of light to a whole new level: one that cuts right to the conscience. He doesn't waste time dancing around the subject, or padding it with “but's” or “maybe's”. He is calling out the people who are “playing the part” of a Christian: the ones who go to church every Sunday, pray before meals, and even volunteer to hand out pamphlets. On the outside, these individuals may look like the holiest of people. The problem lies not there, but in the heart. If Christ is not inside of us, influencing our every decision, we cannot claim to be His followers. The Bible clearly says that we we can only serve one master, and if our lives do not rest in God, they lie in the hands of the Evil one. People who claim to be Christians but do not truly know Jesus only deceive themselves. They are lier's who do not live in the light of truth, and are still destined for an eternity apart from God, in damnation.

This is bad news for non-believers, but those of us who do have that relationship with the Lord have nothing to fear. The passage offers us hope when it says that “ if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.” I love the mental picture that this offers. I immediately envision two figures walking along a golden path, hand in hand, outlined by a brilliant yellow light. As Christians, we are all traveling the same journey. Sure, there are different bumps and twists along the way, but we have the same destination. We were made to be in fellowship not only with our Savior, but also with one another: bonded together with the realization that there is a God that loves us and wants us to be with Him forever. A God that was willing to give His very own life and blood to atone for our sins, and to whom we are forever indebted.

PSALM 103

Praise the LORD, O my soul: all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-

Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,

Who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,

Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles?

 

Imagination has always run quite rampant through my brain cells, although I had much less control over it as a child. Days would fill up quickly with endless to-do lists: sweep out the floor of my golden palace behind the house [a small dirt clearing under two bushes], exercise my award winning Thoroughbred, Flash [known by most of the world as a broom-stick], and rescue innocent forest animals from the evil Canadian trappers [running breathlessly around the house, picking up dozens of Beanie Babies that I had hidden earlier]. So it was not a rare occurrence for me to lie on my bed at night, blinking into the darkness with wild scenarios playing through my head. A common game I played was “What if God walked into the room?”- a favorite that I now see labeled as possibly sacrilegious.

There I was. Six and three-quarters years old, minus two front teeth, lying under my rainforest-themed comforter. A loud knock would echo through my room. 

“Who is it?” I would cry out in a singsong voice.

“It’s God” the owner of the knock would reply. “Can I come in?”

“Well of course you can!” I would reply gleefully. 

Suddenly my room would be flooded with light. A man, who strongly resembled King Triton from The Little Mermaid, would stride into the room, outfitted in a glowing white robe, and sit on the edge of my bed. Glory and might pulsed from his very being. He was the creator of the universe, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning, and the end. And he was sitting four inches away from me. Scooting to the edge of the wall, I would pull the covers next to me back a bit, and then pat the empty space I had made. Smiling, God would put down his glittering scepter, and carefully wiggle in next to me. I would reach down and pull the blankets up so that they rested right underneath our chins, and a feeling of warmth would flood over me. I was snuggling with God.

It’s easy in today’s society to cast God as the scapegoat for all of our problems. When a spouse cheats on us, we lose our money in the stock market, or a loved one dies, we look up to the sky, raise a clenched fist, and scream out in anguish, “God, why are you doing this to me?”

Although this may come as a shock to some, God is not out to get you. In fact, nothing could be farther from the truth. First of all, we were created for God, by God, to bring glory to Him. We belong to him, and he calls us his “sons and daughters.” Not his slaves, not his robots, but His own children. The evil in this world: the death, the pain, the brokenness, is all a result of our own disobedience. We damn ourselves to hell every day when we choose our sinful lifestyle over the love of our Savior. God is not there to punish us and watch us suffer, but to give us a life of fulfillment in Him. Psalm 103 attests to this when the author relishes on His characteristics. He forgives us of our sins. He heals us of our sicknesses. He reaches down to us, when we are drowning in the pit of our sin, and saves us. And he doesn’t stop there- no, once He pulls us out, the Bible says that he crowns us with love and compassion. He doesn’t chastise us or condemn us, or punish us for getting ourselves into the pit. He knows us completely, all of our innermost thoughts, and He loves us the same. This is the beauty of his grace. We must be willing to scoot over a little bit in the bed that is our life, and let Him crawl next to us. There we will understand that He is the only one that will truly never leave us or forsake us.

[On Abortion: A Thought]

In culture, decisions and laws are built primarily upon the fulfillment of the needs of the general public. These decisions, however, do not always take into account an underlying moral code. Secular beliefs permeate the internal clockwork of the nation, influencing the overall decisions that our elected representatives make “for the good of the country.” A problem is presented, then, when attempts are made to clearly decipher what is good and bad in a situation that requires a choice that will positively impact the greater good. One example of this is abortion. People with all different worldviews banter back and forth with each other on their stances, trying futilely to convince the other whether or not it is acceptable to terminate the life of an unborn child. Some argue that life does not begin until a child has a heartbeat or in some extreme perspectives, until it emerges from the mother’s womb. This raises a question, then, of whether the value of human life is based on one’s own personal convictions or circumstances or, rather, a precious, valuable gift that transcends our own definitions and therefore must be treated with the utmost care and decency.
It can be sufficiently stated that men believe in the idea that some things are un-arguably true. It is not an easy task for anyone to argue that a glass of milk is not white, or sandpaper is not scratchy, because we are all born with an innate sense that some things merely are what they are, without question. Philosophical issues, however, provide more controversy because they cannot be explained by use of our senses. Because of this, we settle for assumptions based on the ideas of people more qualified then we are. However, it is important to understand that when we agree to one truth, we are in essence agreeing to the proposition of truth in general. When we argue with someone that a pillow is striped instead of solid, we are conceding that there is a standard rule that differentiates between falsehood and truth. Should truth not be present in matters concerning morality as well?
Since the beginning of time, human life has been recognized as something exquisitely valuable. Murder is universally recognized as a capital crime, punishable by death or, at best, imprisonment. This only goes to prove that people understand, inside of themselves, that murder is wrong. It is their conscious speaking to them, screaming loudly that killing is evil.
It is a scientific fact that life begins at conception: an egg is fertilized by a sperm, and then continues to evolve until it becomes a fully developed fetus. The controversy does not lie in this definition, but rather in the question of when that living organism becomes a person. This is where a broader worldview begins to evolve. If someone believes that they can determine for themselves when this occurs, then everything becomes arbitrary. The possibilities are endless, and truth becomes relative, once again, to the individual. People’s accepted opinions become more and more broadminded until they digress to a point of total depravity.
Human logic is flawed, and lest we forget this, we see evidence of it in history and even current events. Medieval doctors were convinced that the human body functioned on four types of humors: black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood, and an unbalanced amount of these caused physical illness. Early philosophers believed that the earth was the center of the universe, and slavery was believed to be morally and culturally acceptable all the way until the 19th century. For almost eighty years, scientists believed that Pluto was a planet, until they later realized it was merely a ball of ice and rock in the Kuiper Belt. These are just some of many examples that further prove that scientists and philosophers, although they may like to believe so, do not know all the answers.
There are things that are simply beyond our comprehension, and the beginning of life is one of them. However when we accept this as an unexplainable mystery we must be careful not to “throw the baby out with the bathwater,” or completely dismiss the whole argument. Instead of focusing on the details we must step back and view it as a larger issue of morality instead of factual differentiation. Abortion should not be an issue of when personhood does or does not begin, but of what is right and what is wrong. We should not even dabble with the idea that we are important enough to determine the beginning of a human, and by no means think we are justified in taking life.
In conclusion, the cost of life should not be decided based of someone’s perspective but on a moral code. When people believe that they are qualified enough to decide truth for themselves, nothing but chaos can ensue. Abortion is not an issue of a person’s speculation of factual ideals, but one of over-ruling morality. It is not ok for an individual to believe they have the power to decide right and wrong, so one must be careful to base their assumptions not on specific details, but on a moral system.