Do You Fear the Lord?

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction."     Proverbs 1:7

Swing Away

Dialogue from Signs:

Cunningham: You didn't used to play baseball did ya? I know you. You're Merrill Hess! I was there the day you hit that 507-footer over the left field wall, set the record. Man, that thing had a motor on it. It's still the record right?

Merrill: Got the bat at home on the wall.

Cunningham: You've got two minor league home-run records, don't ya?

Merrill: Five.

Cunningham: Why weren't you in the pros making stacks of cash and getting your toes licked by beautiful women?

Lionel Prichard: 'Cause he has another record most people don't know about. He has the minor league strikeout record.

Merrill: Hello Lionel.

Lionel Prichard: Merrill's a class-A screw up. He would just swing that bat as hard as he could every time. Didn't matter what the coaches said, didn't matter who was on base. He would just whip that bat through the air as hard as he could. Looked like a lumberjack chopping down a tree. Merrill here has more strikeouts than any two players.

Cunningham: You really got the strikeout record?

Merrill: Felt wrong not to swing.

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Babe Ruth always held the MLB strike out record, too.

The only way to hit home runs is to swing.

Some people would never list themselves in strike out Hall of Fame. But they also never swung the bat.

You can't be afraid to fail . . . to strike out. At ANYTHING. If you are afraid, you will never hit the ball. You will never really be in the game at all.

Swing away.

"Did someone save me?"

Signs  2002  Mel Gibson

"Did someone save me?"

"Yeah, I think someone did."

Colleen:  "Graham . . . SEE!"            I want to see.  "Tell Merrill to swing away."

Bo:  "This water is contaminated!"

Merrill:  "It seemed wrong not to swing."  (Merrill was formerly the Strike Out King AND the Home Run King of their small town)

Graham:  "Swing away, Merrill."

Morgan:  "Dad . . . what happened?  Did someone save me?"

Graham:  "Yeah.  I think someone did."

No.  I don't believe people just get lucky (or unlucky).  I don't believe in coincidences.

I believe someone saved me.

See.

With me . . . without me.

Roy - "With me . . . without me . . . with me . . . without me."

June - "With me . . . .

Yeah, Tom Cruise is nuts (see Scientology), but I still enjoy his movies.  I've been watching him since Risky Business (though Rebecca DeMornay was the draw there -- not Tom dancing in his tighty-whities).

Here's two of my favorite scenes from Knight and Day.

It sometimes gets annoying, trying, testing . . . but God says this to me every day . . . . . .

Okay . . . . . . with you.

This idea (or proposition) seems to be the point of family, friendship, faith in God, community, church . . . . It's not religion or spirituality or mysticism.  I need you . . . and I hope that you need me. 

I don't want to live in a world without God.

It would be difficult living in a world without YOU.  I NEED you.  

With you . . . 

I want to pretend sometimes that I am strong alone.  I am independent.  Self-sufficient.  But, I'm not.

"Don't allow your hearts to be troubled . . . you believe in God . . . believe in me, too.   There is plenty of room where my Father lives.  If that were not the truth I wouldn't even mention it.

I'm leaving here so that I can go and prepare a place just for you . . . there.  If I leave here to do that, then I will make sure that you get there, so that you can be WITH ME."     John 14:1-3

I believe that He is WITH ME, now.  I believe that He has prepared a way so that I can be WITH HIM, later.

I want YOU to be WITH ME later, too.  WITH HIM . . . WITH ME . . . WITH US.

It is my hope . . . .  that being together . . . doesn't stop when my heart does.

Arriving

Emerson said, “Life is a journey . . . not a destination.”  (Also quoted recently by Steven Tyler in his autobiography “Does the Noise in My Head Hurt Your Ears?”)

Hemmingway said, “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”

“We must be willing to stop and smell the roses along the way in life’s journey.” (Unknown).

I’ve heard hundreds of wise quotes like these . . . but none of them connect with me.  I’m all about ARRIVING, and I can’t help it.

I want to GET THERE!

Last week my son and I spent ten hours driving to Myrtle Beach to enjoy vacation time with family.  Then we spent ten hours driving back.  We had some quality father/son conversation, listened to good music, and sampled a couple of audio books.  But, being true men . . . we got everything personal, emotional, and familial talked out in the first hundred miles.

We’re close . . . we’re good . . . we’re caught up . . . our bond is strong . . . we’re done with all girly chit chat.  Let’s just get to Myrtle Beach so that the party can begin!

I am confident that we both enjoyed our time together.  We’re better people now that we have spent so much time enclosed in a small space hurtling at 80 miles an hour down life’s interstate, eating junk food and sipping sodas.  But . . . let’s just get to Myrtle Beach.  That’s where the seafood buffets are.  That’s where everybody is who is waiting for us.  That’s where the beach and the pool and the Ferris Wheel and the good times are.  When we ARRIVE . . . we no longer have to pretend that we’re having a good time . . . we can actually begin having a GOOD TIME!

Back in 1976 when I saw my first Star Trek reruns (I never watched a single episode during its actual run in the 60’s) and saw the technology of the TRANSPORTER . . . I knew that I had witnessed a scientific dream of the ONLY way to travel.  “Beam me up, Scotty!” and then beam me to Myrtle Beach . . . and then beam me back home.  That’s what I’m talking about . . . destinations only . . . a life filled with nothing but ARRIVING!

Now, God knows how I feel about this . . . because I’ve told him (as if I had to).  He has listened patiently and nodded his head sympathetically.  But I know that I’ll never change his mind, his will or his ways.  HE’S all about the journey.

He has told us a little bit about our final destination, and what little we know makes me want to be there NOW.  I believe his promises to his children about the end of our journey, but I cannot adapt to his philosophy of travel.  I don’t WANT to learn anything, I don’t WANT to grow and become mature and wise and deep.  All of that hurts too much.  It takes too long and most of it is unpleasant.

I don’t LIKE the scenic route.  I don’t enjoy the countryside.  I know there’s a beautiful rest stop, but we still have half a tank of gas, only a half full bladder, and a back seat full of snacks . . . let’s GET TO WHERE WE ARE GOING!!

HEAVEN?  Let’s get on with it!  Beam us up!

I don’t advocate self-cancellation of the journey.  (It’s funny that Hemmingway can wax so eloquently about life being a journey and not a destination and then taking a shotgun and blowing his head off.  Well, not funny . . . ).  No, I’m not dispensing Kool Aid or bagging my head to ride the comet.  I’ll walk the journey, I’ll follow the path, I’ll make the trip . . . I just will never be able to enjoy it as much as being THERE.

I’m not being disrespectful to God, or belligerent about his methods.  I’m willing to submit to his plan for my life, but I’ve tried to change, to adjust . . . and I can’t.

Yes, Dorothy, you could have . . . at any time during this entire harrowing movie filled with creepy Munchkins, talking scarecrows, haunted trees, wicked witches, and flying monkeys . . . simply clicked your heels together three times while chanting “There’s no place like home” and you would have been INSTANTLY transported to Aunty Em’s.

If I were Dorothy Gale I would have slapped Glenda so hard it would have made her bubble pop.

To me . . . there’s no place like home.  There’s no place like where I want to be.

I know . . . nobody wants to watch a movie about a girl from Kansas who gets blown by a tornado to a strange place over the rainbow who immediately finds magic slippers that can transport her magically back to Kansas!  I WANT the yellow brick road . . . for Dorothy . . . but I DON’T want the yellow brick road for ME!

If there is a shortcut – tell me about it.  If there is a cutoff – I want the option of taking it.  If there is a wormhole or an intersection between galactic planes through which I can travel – I want to take it.  THERE is what matters most to me.  THERE is where I’m going.  THERE is where the party is.

I realize that I am flawed.  I see that this is a shortcoming.  I have applied myself with great determination to change my nature over the years, but I have failed.

Terri hates watching television with me.

Nearly everything that we watch together was recorded earlier on the DVR.

I can watch a two-hour movie in thirty minutes using the fast-forward feature on the remote control.  I can watch a one-hour network show in a little over fifteen minutes.  I never watch commercials, promos, or lead-ins.   I get everything that I need from each show.  At the end of the program I am completely satisfied and entertained. 

What I hate is having to watch any show or movie in REAL TIME because it is all so predictable.  I know what the actor is going to say, what he is going to do next, who done it and how the show is going to end.  I’m not omniscient . . . today’s writers are just not very talented . . . and there really IS nothing new under the sun.  I can scan through a movie or a show or a book at warp speed . . . and all I need to pick up on is the little bits and pieces that I DIDN’T guess or deduce.

I never read the last chapter first . . . but I don’t have to read every single word in the book to get to the ending.

Let’s get to the ending.  (As the Apostle John said in Revelation 22, “Come, Lord Jesus!”)

Father, you’ve asked us over and over again if we love you . . . you know that we do, and we’ve tried diligently to feed your sheep and your lambs to prove it.  You’ve tested us and tried us . . . some we passed and others we failed.  You’ve sent us through the flood and through the fire, we’ve been on the cross, on the stake, and in the arena.  You’ve asked us to be in the world but not of the world . . . but frankly (and reverently) I’m ready to get out of this world.

Let’s get to the ending.

I’ve had enough journey.  Beam me up.  I’m ready to ARRIVE.
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Why not just give up?

Why go on in the face of failure or defeat? 

Why persist in fighting the fight, running the race? Why go on? Why get up? Did you choose the red pill and wish to God that you had chosen the blue one? Are you falling head first down the rabbit hole? Do you really want to know how deep it goes? Do you want to climb back out? Click the heels of your ruby slippers together, hang it up, quit the dance, and go back to Kansas? 

Why get up, Mr. Anderson? Why go on? Why don't you just stay down? Why don't you quit, throw in the towel, call it a day? Why keep living and trying? 

"Because I choose to." 

God may be eternally Soverign. Omnipotent and Omniscient. He may have written devine decrees in eternity past, He may have a predetermined Plan, or be the Lord of Predestination. We may be living in an artificial matrix or merely reflecting holographic images shadow-fashion from the event horizion of some galactic black hole. 

But . . . I, too, believe that we can make choices. And our choices are real. If our choices are real . . . we are a paradox, and we have the capability of creating paradoxes, generating randomness, manufacturing our own chaos and uncertainty. 

I believe that Neo was right. Our choices are real. If our choices are real . . . then, to some extent . . . to the extent that we continue to choose . . . we are free. 

In Genesis 2:19 the Bible says that shortly after God created Man he brought all of the animals before him "to see what he would call (name) them." The implication is that a Sovereign, all-knowing God, created mankind with the paradoxical ability to amuse him. To surprise him. To make free, independent, undetermined, unprogramed, and deivinely unforeseen choices. 

This must be exstatically refreshing to a deity that knows everything, and everything that is going to happen. God created us with built-in devine blind spots. He shielded us, to some extent, from the forces of determinism that flow so powerfully from his essence. He made it possible for us to reject him, to disobey him, to thwart the plan, to defy what seemed inevitable. 

Our choices are real. They are ours. If we do not have anything . . . WHEN we do not have anything else . . . we have that. And the results . . . the consequences . . . are ours, too. We own them. And sometimes SALVATION, is saving us from them. From ourselves. 

But it is also our choice that makes salvation possible. That makes it real. That makes it happen. Why get up? Why go on? Because we choose to . . . And we continue to choose to . . . because we are free to do so . . . and we have the stubborn hope . . . that our choices and our struggles . . . can paradoxically, surprisingly, unpredictably, and inexplicably change the future. 

 The Holographic Universe

Are we living in a computer simulation? 

Philip K. Dick on The Matrix

Sam Harris on Free Will

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2001: A Space Odyssey "Something wonderful!"

This is my favorite scene from 2001 A Space Odyssey.  This is a conversation that I can imagine might take place if one of our deceased friends or loved ones contacted us from beyond their transition to let us know that the end of all things was soon to begin.

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