Good morning, dear ones.
Tazzy and I did our earlier exercise excursion. Now I need to get on with the demands of the day. Some of those demands will call for hauling my excavator to a friend’s log deck where I will use it to select and load some logs that I’ll buy from him. The logs will help to satisfy a big order for some 2”x10”s.
A couple days ago, Thano and I worked together on a grove of trees that was given to him to harvest for firewood. On that day we dropped 23 trees. Just to offer a little glimpse of that setting, I’ll stick on one photo. I did a dumb thing while working there—getting all heated up by the work. I took off my coat and vest and lay them beside a tree. But then we proceeded to drop trees all over that spot, forcing disorientation. Sometimes I have to worry about me. I have since sought to relocate the coat and vest, but at this point, that’s a major challenge. Hopefully they will turn up in the course of the logging operation that I prefer to do after the mud dries out—Spring?
Be blessed and mindful of what you KNOW.
Have a great day. Ray.
The first 8 verses of Ecclesiastes 3 is a well-known commentary on the awesome phenomenon of time. Time is an absolute reality that does not wait for anyone. But is time simply regulated by time? No—not if it is to fit with Biblical revelation. It is in fact regulated by the One Who transcends time and created it—the Eternal One—Who is presented in this last book of the Bible as The Alpha and Omega—The Beginning and the Ending.
One of the most memorable segments of that passage in Ecclesiastes is the first one that says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die…” (Eccl 3:1-2, NIV).
As I give my best attention to these awesome ideas, I’m processing it this way: We have all been given an ALPHA/beginning. With that established, we all now face two OMEGAS/endings—(1) Physical/temporal—the OMEGA of temporal existence. (2) Spiritual/eternal—the OMEGA of eternal destiny. And sandwiched in between our individual ALPHA and our physical OMEGA is a choice as to what or who will be the primary object/focus of our time/attention while navigating that allocation of time—which, of course, determines our individual eternal destiny. So, the clever quip is very valid that says, WHERE YOU GO HEREAFTER IS DETERMINED BY WHAT YOU GO AFTER HERE.
It is very difficult to know how to plan and prepare for the unknown—that which is incidental, unforeseen, or circumstantial. But if you absolutely KNOW that which is inevitable and unavoidable, is it possible to overstate the level of foolishness that must be assigned to NOT preparing?
I like the title of that book, I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH FAITH TO BE AN ATHEIST (Norman Geisler and Frank Turek. Check it out.) And in this regard, I can say “I don’t have enough faith to believe that my inevitable physical death represents the absolute termination of my existence.” Yet that is one of the cardinal tenets of faith for many. It’s their foundational “hope and prayer.”
Think of it—you get sick or meet an unforeseen accident, which sooner or later happens to everyone, and you die. Now what? Well, we’re not given a clear chronological schedule for how all the details flow together. But so what?! Let’s not worry about what we don’t know. Let’s be attentive to what we do know. We are allowed to KNOW that soon (“soon” is a relative segment of time) there will be JUDGMENT pronounced by the Sovereign Judge. This small glimpse afforded us here in Revelation is in perfect unison with another glimpse afforded us from Hebrews 9:27-28—“Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (NIV)