this blog
LIVING WITH PURPOSE
What a week it has been for all. I am sure some of you have
lived in a state of anxiety with the uncertainty of what is to come for our
country. I found myself in prayer a lot these last few weeks. As many of you
know, I had some bad news from my last Pet Scan that required a Bone Scan to affirm
or disprove the Pet Scan, in that my cancer had metastasized to the bones.
After a few anguished weeks, I got the results that I am fine, other than some
degenerative changes to my bones (ie: onset of Arthritis). I also want to point
out that the entire time I was in the bone scan tube, I talked to God. I was in
there for hours. I do not have the gift of speaking in tongues, but I caught
myself calling God by several of his names, and I did this unconsciously. I am
not sure if me recognizing him as the God of all is what helped, but I do know
that at the time I was calling out all of his names is the time they were going
in deep at the spots that had previously been “hot”. Just words for
thought. Know all of God!
In the days and weeks of not knowing if this “was it” for me,
I dug deep, but my exploration of faith was probably not what most of you would
imagine. I wanted to see if I could learn or discern anything about “life after
death” – as in what exactly happens to us after our last breath here on Earth. After
countless articles and videos, I came to one simple conclusion: What happens to
our existence, our souls, our spirit, is the last and possibly the greatest
mystery of life. As a Christian, I have faith-based beliefs as to the existence
of Heaven and Jesus, but what that will be like, well that is an unknown. I can
tell you that of all the things I read and saw, the majority of them had one
similar experience, a peaceful light feeling, one of no pain, no sadness and
complete love. Getting to that conclusion gave me peace. But I still wanted to
know more.
So, I went to the bible (I know Heather – should have
started there), and I read verses that most biblical scholars associate with
death and soul. Even in them, depending on the author and the time it was
written, differ in bits. The Old Testament does not really describe a Hell, the
New Testament does, but not in graphic detail until after Jesus has died and
resurrected from the Cross. I decided to only look at Jesus’ experience with
death (not his death). His death is something all together different from us
mere humans, he died for us, the ultimate sacrifice. So, for us, I looked at
his conversation with his disciples and the Pharisees.
In Matthew 17:2, Jesus is on the Mountain talking with Moses
and Elijah. Moses and Elijah are not in fleshly human form but are still recognizable
to the three disciples with him as Moses and Elijah. Jesus himself transforms on the Mountain into
a version of himself, but one that looks more spiritual than human. In his
confrontation with the Pharisees, they ask him about a wife as property in
heaven, since she had been married to all the brothers of a family, which brother
would she be the wife of in heaven. Jesus informs them that heaven is not like
that. It is my opinion having read that, that Jesus is saying that upon death and
resurrection into heaven, we are “us” only our earthly and fleshly desires and
interest will be gone and in it’s place will be peace and love and service of
God and that’s it. We will not exist in heaven to continue an earthly path, but
to complete heavenly tasks. Again, part of the mystery that is only unveiled to
us at death.
Later in scripture Jesus raises his beloved friend Lazarus
from the dead. But see we only know he is dead, because of the human reactions
around him, because Jesus never once acts, speaks or behaves in a manner that
makes us think that Lazarus is dead, to Jesus he is just asleep. Jesus wakes
him from this deep sleep and resurrects life into his friend. This makes me
think that we too, upon death (sleep) will be awoken (resurrected) in heaven,
and it will be like no time has passed from one event to the next. We simply
will be.
Lastly, I have the opinion that our reunion in heaven with
Jesus and God is not something that only happens after the great Judgment of
the Earth (Revelations). I came to this conclusion by one simple verse, Luke
23:39-43. In this passage, we find that one of the thieves (that has done
nothing right in his life – per his words), finds that Jesus is without fault
and confesses one singular thought before his passing, he says “Jesus, remember
me when you come into your Kingdom?”.
This is a simple statement of belief, belief that Jesus is indeed the Son
of God. Jesus then tells the thief, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with
me in Paradise”. First off, what a statement of reward for just simply believing
with your whole mind, body, and soul that Jesus is the Messiah!!! But even more
importantly, it clearly shows that Jesus anticipates being reunited with that
thief that very day in Heaven. Wow, that is a big confirmation of what happens
to us upon death.
I again am in a state of reprieve from treatments and poking
and prodding and scans. I will enjoy these next three months with a lot of
love, freedom, and peace. It does sadden me when I hear of others that have died
from cancer, and here I am still doing relatively well. I cannot explain how and
why that is so different from one person to the next. I am choosing to believe
that it has to do with fulfillment of purpose. I still have no real clue as to
what my purpose is here on earth, but apparently, I have not completed it. I
saw an interview last night with Alex Trebek, who died on November 8th. He said two things that really struck me as
amazing thoughts to have while suffering from cancer. One was that dying slowly
from cancer allows one to see what their impact has been on others, because
people send cards, letters, emails, texts letting you know what they think. He
said most people are already dead before people speak from the heart. Second he
said that he has the joy of living these past few months with no regrets, fully
focusing on what means most to him, his family, his friends and his charities,
that he has had time to write a book and donate all the proceeds to the charities
he loves. He did something with the gift of “small time”. It was perspective.
It was genuine love of life. It was genuine appreciation of prayer.
For me, I believe my purpose may be to share knowledge and
thoughts, with these blogs and the website I am working on. I know some people
that read the bible and cannot understand the words or have to take them out of
context for them to make sense (or to fit their belief system). Not so for me,
the words jump from the pages, the meaning so simple to understand, and I am
thinking maybe in this time of turmoil and anxiety, maybe I am meant to show
you that the entire word of God can be summed up with one small four-letter
word, LOVE.
Hate to say this, but some people in the world are not practicing
LOVE. Many are not very understanding and sympathetic to their fellow mankind.
Many judge first, then throw in a word or two, completely out of context, of
God as if that alone can change the world. I think not. To be honest, I think everyone needs to read
Daniel, Ezekiel, Job, Isiah, and Revelations. Each of these books are hard to
read, not because the language is hard, but the context is disturbing. It shows
an angry wrathful God, that has had it with mankind living in sin and making a
mockery of his laws. He sends message after message to them, and still they do
not stop, they do not repent, they do not fall to their knees. So, he tells them
he will destroy them, but not all, he will leave a remnant, and that remnant he
will forgive, make peace with, restore and redeem and he will love them once
again. Each prophet tells of horrible
things to come, yet each tells of the promise of redemption and love that only
God has.
I saw a documentary recently about a man that killed his
entire family. His mother spoke at his sentencing and said these words…”I will
never know why you have done these things, but I want you to know I love you
and I forgive you.” WOW – that is a powerful statement. That is God’s mercy. He will never understand
why we purposely disobey him day after day, but he loves us, and he will
forgive us.
Next week, I plan to talk about dreams, and will have a
guest writer who is better equipped to discuss dreams and spirituality of
dreams.
As always, be safe, keep to the word, and let the hope of
Jesus rest in your heart.
Love, A
Don’t have your own bible – check this out:
Want to find your own bible study – look at what I found
online:
Lastly, I encourage everyone to find a body to fit in with –
I am talking a church, a bible study, anything that get’s you excited to learn
about God. Go to Google and type “Christian churches near me” – if you live in the
23434 – here’s your search:
