WORDS TO LIVE BY

The Author closed his eyes, sat back in his favorite writing chair, and rested his hands on the thick, blank book positioned squarely on his lap. He began to tap on the cover and listen to the resulting soft thud as if he were signaling someone and heeding their reply. He seemed to be calling to the book and it was answering. After a few exchanges, he concluded this next book in the series would be about Jack. 

The Author saw the substance of Jack in his mind before the character was ever placed on paper. He knew the secret thoughts he had for this being and held them close until the time was ripe. At last, the Author picked up his pen to form this glorious creation on the cover of the book. He crafted Jack in his image, depositing a little of himself within, and fashioned him to be like previous characters in the series, yet different in his own way. Jack was the Author’s workmanship, fearfully and wonderfully made. How marvelous was this work!

The Author allowed his fingers to trace the cover before opening the book. He knew the plans he had for Jack—plans to prosper him and not to harm him, plans to give him hope and a future. Nevertheless, Jack was created with free will to forgo the Author’s plans for his own. The Author felt the foreknown pangs of hurt for the choices Jack would make, as he gazed upon the innocence of this individual standing on the first page of the rest of his life. 

Jack stood beside a bookcase, not knowing what to do next. The Author formally introduced himself (although they intimately knew each during the development process), and he drew Jack’s attention to the hundreds of white, blank pages in the book. He explained to Jack that this was his story, to be told by himself. With that, the Author sketched a black ink pen for Jack to make his indelible mark on this world and suggested he use the bookcase for learning and reference. The Author then exhorted Jack to go forth and multiply, subdue his world, and fulfill his purpose.

Jack wasted no time getting started, but was slow on the uptake owing to the steep learning curve, especially when it came to expressing himself. Not only did he need to learn to walk before running, he also had to figure out how to navigate the obstacles along the way. It didn’t take Jack long to get the hang of things, and he loved blazing his own path—maybe loved it too much.

Jack relished the idea of being in control and doing things on his own. Pride crept in as he began to disregard any help or advice from others. He became puffed up and full of himself, leaving no more room for the Author in his life. Lost in his own doings, Jack veered off the path intended for him and relinquished himself to one mistake after another. He attempted to hide his misdeeds by scratching them out with more ink, but alas, he only made a bigger mess. Eventually he found himself drowning in a sea of blackness as his sins consumed him.

With nowhere else to turn, Jack called out for the Author and threw up desperate hands hoping to touch the Author in the space above the page. “Please save me from myself! Hide your face from my sins and blot out either my iniquity or me. Please shine your light into my abyss.”

The Author replied, “I am he who blots out your transgressions and remembers your sins no more.” Immediately after the declaration, the Author whipped out his special correction ink and began to dab over Jack’s transgressions. 

Overwhelming joy and gratitude washed over Jack. “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered! Your love has covered a multitude of my sins! I was lost in the blackness of death, but now I am found! Was blind, but now I see!” 

Jack realized he couldn’t continue to do life his way. He repented and tried to hand over his black ink pen to the Author; however, the Author explained that Jack must tell his own story, in his own words. Then he made Jack a guarantee: “I will go with you and never forsake you. Every time you seek me, you will find me. When you call upon me, and I will listen. I will be with you always. When you pass through the waters, they shall not overflow you; when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned.” 

Jack replied, “I can do nothing on my own. I seek not my own will, but the will of you who sent me.”

“Go be the salt and the light your world needs. Write down your story so that others may use it. You will not be alone in this endeavor. I’m with you always, to the end of the age.”

After blotting out the transgressions, regrets, and other errors, the Author turned to a blank page for Jack to start writing again. It was the fresh start Jack needed. The story of Jack poured out with combined effort: Jack operating in his free will and the Author ready to help when needed by placing notes and signs along his path for direction. Jack also began to see the importance of the bookcase and used it every chance he had.

Although Jack still had the occasional problem, he found hope in the Author always being there for him. Each time he made a mistake, he didn’t try to conceal it like before, but immediately called out for help, and the Author always obliged. 

Jack developed a great love for the Author and strove to demonstrate the Author’s essence and character in his own life. Oftentimes, Jack would record in the book the words he heard his Author speak, and he vowed to tell others of the Author’s righteous acts and wondrous deeds. He sought to proclaim his might to another generation, and to all those coming after him. 

True to his word, the Author never forsook Jack in all his days and was with him to the end. Eventually, Jack grew tired, though, and his pen ran dry. The Author (and now the finisher) of Jack’s faith picked up where he left off and penned the last words in the book: “Well done, my good and faithful one. You fought the good fight, finished your race, and kept the faith.” Jack’s life on paper was now complete and only the legacy of it remained.

The Author closed the book about Jack’s story and placed it in its rightful spot on the bookcase, beside the book about Jack’s grandfather. He returned to his favorite writing chair and plucked a new book from his stash in the basket beside it. He slowly rolled the book back and forth in his hands until it came to a rest on both palms. Staring at the book, his eyes brimmed with liquid joy as he contemplated the potential in this new life. He lifted the book gently to inhale the freshness of the empty pages, yet knowing that once written, the book would bear an even sweeter aroma. He laid the book across his lap and adorned it with a title: Jack’s Grandson and His Story. While this would be a short story, only a couple pages, it would have the power to change lives for generations to come, just like Jack’s story. 

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children. We will not hide from the children the things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us, but will tell the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and of His might, and the wonders that He has done. (Derived from Proverbs 13:22 and Psalm 78:3-4)

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THE PRICE ON MY HEAD

I’m going to share with you a story that I held secret for over twenty years. Why did I keep it hidden so long? Because I had no explanation, or even understanding, for what really happened—it blew my logic-based mind, and so I suppressed its very memory to keep from having to change the way I was living at the time.

When I was a teenager, my idea of having fun was a bit distorted. For example, a certain friend and I loved to go joy-riding and see how fast we could take the curves on one-lane country roads. We measured our success by two things: 1) the highest speed we could obtain in each curve and 2) the overall time it took to travel a selected length of the road (i.e., anywhere from five to ten miles). 

One late-summer day in 1987, my friend and I were playing our usual game on a winding road that had its fair share of sharp curves. This road traversed several lush farms, but we paid no attention to the to the freshly mowed fields. We came screeching around a blind curve about 50 mph when we saw a large tractor in our oncoming path. There was no time for us to slow down and no way to get over, because a deep creek lined the passenger side of the road.

Attached to the back of the tractor was some sort of implement. (I think it was a kind of hay rake, and for the purpose of the story, I’ll just make this assumption.) It was offset and completely reached past the tractor’s tires and to the opposite edge of the road. It was raised to the level of our heads as we were seated in the car. 

I saw the hay rake coming for us, and could see that it stretched completely across the hood of the car. I instantly knew that we were about to be decapitated and braced myself for the impact. I saw the rake come all the way up to the front windshield, and then it seemed to disappear. I quickly turned around and saw it behind us. It passed right through the car without touching us!

My friend kept driving until we found a place to pull over. We sat for a moment just staring at each other with incredulousness. Eventually, we were able to exit the car and walk on wobbly knees as we thoroughly inspected the entire car. Not one dent, scrape, or scratch. How was that even possible? The tractor tire alone was far enough over to drive upon the car. Somehow on that one-lane stretch of road, a tractor laden with a hay rake and a car passed each other without fail. While the incident threatened to take off my head physically, the incident definitely did the job emotionally. I had a choice to make: tell the story of how my life was spared, and then be forced to change the way I was living in appreciation, or let the memory of the event die in my place. 

Until November of 2008, the story lay dormant in forgotten memories. Then one night, I had a dream that a family member (who suffers from severe mental illness) called my mom and wanted to know how my husband, daughter, and I were doing and a couple other things. A simple dream at first glance, but it left a lingering impression on me. The next day in real life, this person actually did call my mom out of the blue, and the conversation included all the things I had heard in my dream the night before. In addition, though, this person revealed to my mom that he was “told” to kill me with an axe (cut off my head), and that he didn’t think he could do it.

The moment my mom finished describing the strange conversation, I heard the Lord speak very clearly to me: “I saved you once from having your head cut off and I can do it again.” IMMEDIATELY, the story about the tractor was resurrected in my mind in clear detail. I couldn’t decide what was more amazing—that a loved one wanted to cut off my head or that I could have forgotten such a miraculous story or that I dreamed the conversation before it happened or that the Lord was speaking directly to me. The one thing I had no trouble deciding, though, was that He was at work in my life. 

The Lord loves me, and He loves you too. He even loves us when we don’t love Him back. He knew us in our mother’s womb, and when we were woven together at creation, His eyes saw all the days ordained for us. And yes, He has a plan for our life: plans to prosper us and not to harm us; plans to give us hope and a future.

Although there was a hit out on me (not once, but twice), Jesus paid the price on my head. He paid it for you, too. 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16 NIV

If you enjoyed this blog and would like to read my future ones, please submit your email under the “Follow by Email” tab on the sidebar. By doing this, each time I post a new blog, it will be emailed automatically to you, and you won’t have to watch social media for the links. I promise to not use your email for solicitation or mass distributions. Also, I would love to hear from you, so please drop a comment below, even if it’s just to say hello.

QUANTUM CONNECTIONS

I’m starting this blog with a short science lesson on quantum physics. Okay, please don’t freak out and quit reading. Hang with me and it will be worth it.

But before we start, you need to open you mind to the understanding that time and space are tools that God gave us to be able to function and communicate while on earth. Imagine trying to describe to someone the fantastic Caribbean cruise you took last year if you didn’t have the tools of time and space to convey your thoughts.

Again, time and space are tools, NOT limits as many people believe. While it may be hard to imagine or perceive existing outside of time or space, it is not an impossibility. The Bible is full of stories that transcend both. We are NOT limited by time or space. Yes, the laws of physics rely on and support them, but on a massive scale (like when talking about galaxies) or on a subatomic scale (like when talking about things smaller than atoms), the laws of time and space can break down.

• Physics Fact 1. An action on one thing can be instantly detected by the other thing bound to it, regardless of the distance between them. Imagine you and I are at opposite ends of the universe separated by one billion light years, but yet somehow, we are still connected. If I jump, then it seems to reason that it should take one billion years for you to feel my action. However, recent experiments in physics have shown that the actions on one particle can be instantly detected in the other. Einstein was aware of this idea of universal entanglement and called it, “spooky action at a distance.”
• Physics Fact 2: A thing can exist simultaneously in two places and will only show up in one place or the other when it is measured. Physicists have shown that something (like an atom) can exist in two places at the same time, but it doesn’t show up in either until it is actually observed/measured there. In more general terms, this means that reality does not show up in the physical until it is measured.

Okay, that was more science than you probably ever wanted to hear or cared to know. So, why is it important? Because these principles are alive in the Bible, too.

The Bible says that through the blood of Jesus, we are redeemed back to God. In other words, the blood provides a reconciliation of earth back to heaven and thus, the two become reconnected. Colossians 1:20 says that Christ reconciled to Himself with all things, whether on earth or in heaven, and peace was made through His blood shed on the cross. Basically, there is a heavenly entanglement of our life on earth with what God has for us in heaven, and the blood is the connector. Matthew 16:19 tells us that whatever we bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever we loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. When we pull on that connection for something on earth, it is instantly felt in heaven, regardless of time or space. Our prayers and supplications are instantly perceived in heaven, and vice versa—when an action is taken in heaven on our behalf, its effects are available to us instantly. So why, then, do we not always “get” or “see” it in that same timing? For example, Abraham was given a promise, but a long time passed before he realized (or came into) that promise.

Romans 12:3 says that God has given every person a measure of faith, and 2 Corinthians 10:15 says that as our faith grows, our sphere of activity expands. We know from Mathew 17:20 that with faith, nothing is impossible. With even a small amount of faith, we can tell mountains to move. According to these scriptures, not only do we have a measure of faith that can cause things to physically show up where we need them, but we also have the power and authority though the Holy Spirit to tell things where to come or go. Abraham “received” his promise when he had the faith to believe for it. Hebrews 6:12 tells us to imitate those (like Abraham) who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. It’s sort of like salvation. Through Jesus, salvation was made available to all people; however, only those who have the faith to believe it’s true have it made manifest in their lives. Salvation exists in heaven and on earth independent of our opinions, but it doesn’t come into our life on earth until we apply a measure of faith.

So, what does all this mean for you?

Through the blood of Jesus, you are reconciled back to God, and your connection from earth to heaven is restored. Whatever it is that God has for you in heaven (i.e., healing, provision, knowledge, etc), it is available for you right here on earth, even if you cannot physically see it, because it exists in both places at the same time. To cause it to manifest in your life, pull on that connection to let your request be known, use your measure of faith to make it appear, and pray like Jesus taught—that it will be done in earth as it is in heaven. 

If you enjoyed this blog and would like to read my future ones, please submit your email under the “Follow by Email” tab on the sidebar. By doing this, each time I post a new blog, it will be emailed automatically to you, and you won’t have to watch social media for the links. I promise to not use your email for solicitation or mass distributions. Also, I would love to hear from you, so please drop a comment below, even if it’s just to say hello.