Oasis

On one of my many trips to Africa, in the country of Botswana, I explored the Kalahari Desert, a reserve covering 225,000 sq miles where there is much grazing land after large rains.  Here, you can see large herds of wilder beasts and other animals in the wild, such as lions.  One of the most treacherous sights you will ever witness is a lion feeding on a new born baby dropped as the wilder beast were fleeing or a disabled animal who could not keep up.   Such as my recognition that the disabled and newborn will always be victimized by the treachery of the “normal”.  My intent here is not to dwell on the victimization of those of us who are disabled in the strategy of this world but I want to think of a most remarkable sight I witnessed with my binoculars and microscopic camera lens.  I am totally blind now but at that time, I had a small island of vision in my left eye, mercifully left by god after the war, so I could witness much of God’s sovereignty which I can, in turn, witness to you in all honesty and sincerity.  

Near an oasis, high in a tree, since their were no mountainous cliffs, the usual habitat for an eagle, I saw an eagle's nest which had been constructed by the mother eagle.  The bottom of the nest seemed to be constructed only of rough limbs, but their were layers of other branches etc... which seemed to get progressively more compatible for a nest.  It seemed that their were fur parts from dead animals and I am sure this is where the eagle laid her eggs and raised her young.  But as we find in God’s holy word, Deuteronomy, when the eaglets come of age, the mother eagle destroys the nest and forces them, with care, to move out on their own.  Many times in the Bible there are references to the eagle who always has an upward bound, upward looking mentality.  But, in the survival mentality of the eagle the nest is always built high with adequate resources. Mother eagle knows that she must have water and food and that is mostly found around an oasis. 

Again, in a desert, in the southern part of Tunisia I encountered an oasis.  A limited area surrounded by hundreds of miles of sand where their was greenery and water. A pleasant place for the caravan or the visitor to come for refreshment. My driver had driven me to the oasis in a truck type vehicle and as I surveyed the landscape nothing but sand as far as my failing eye could see.  I noticed a dot on the horizon which began getting larger and larger and after much time I recognized it as being a man walking toward the oasis. When he finally arrived, an Arab nomad, with the usual head dress and robe to protect him from the elements, it was obvious he had never seen a Caucasian before. Of course he could not understand me, anything I said, and my driver was as lost as me. But he realized my attitude towards him.  He wanted to touch a white hand and he accepted some gifts I pulled out of my camera bag for him. Even though I am a non-smoker, I always carried cigarettes, lighters, pens , candy bars, and I never made a picture of a native unless I asked permission and gave a gift.  He was familiar with cigarettes and immediately took one. My driver lit it for him, and as always, from one side of the world to the other, I gave him my business card.

Like Jesus, and the woman at the well, the common need of every animal is a cool drink of water.  After the Arab refreshed himself, he blessed me with some sort of Arab blessing as other oasis desert visitors stood around and then left slowly disappearing in the distance. A mystery to me is his moving in the sameness of the sand without compass or markers. A lesson to me, my compass is taking directions from the construction engineer of the universe.

I went to visit the great rock temples of Abu Simbel, Egypt, which were moved in 1960s with engineering skills beyond my comprehension in order to build the Aswan dam. Money was raised by Egyptologists around the when the waters of Lake Nasser threatened to engulf them. These 13th century temples were originally carved during the reign of Ramesses II as a symbol of the Egyptian religion and prominence to impress the power of Egypt throughout the world.

The day I was there was probably the hottest day in history. I thought I was going die from heat stroke and it scared my guide to death as he proceeded with great speed to a desert oasis where we found, again, cold water which is in every respect one of God’s great gifts to life.  I could speak at length on the water molecule, its transfer from the salty ocean changed in the atmosphere to fall as pure water on the earth.  The instructions of our blessed Lord about “the water of life”, the symbolism of baptism, the washing of saints feet, or even a message which I have used many times about the location of a well in the front yard of every old church. In early times, the stranger knew the water was there for the refreshment of himself and his animals because the early church had a trough where the horse or the other animals could get water.  Can one even imagine the importance of the country church, the well, always in the front yard of the church by the road, as an oasis for the wayfarer as well as the community who knew that the church was an oasis, not only for deliverance and redemption, but the salutation and dedication of fellow believers.

I still remember, as a young child, my father bringing in buckets of water from the well, in the front of the church, to pour into basins for the “washing of the saints feet“, the most beautiful worship ordinance of the Christian church. The lesson of learning humility, of following the example of Christ in washing the disciples feet.  The very first image that I have in my minds memory bank (I have use this example in every high school and college graduation address I have ever given because it explains, more than any other words, not what I have, but what I am), my own precious mother on her knees in front of some older ladies washing their feet.  Can one even imagine what this world would be like in today’s morass of crime, corruption, selfishness, if even in the so called “Christian” churches, this practice of faith, servitude, and act of humility were part of the worship service.  Travel the world and you will not find an oasis that will compare with my description of this. 

Another oasis that demands our attention in these days of economic duress and mental stress is the oasis of the family home.  I speak of a home, not just a “filling station” or “changing room”, where people just grab some food and put on different clothes.  The home is the first institution proclaimed by God even though their was disaster in the first home. The home oasis is a place that children can find nourishment, not just food and drink, but training, advice, and encouragement from those old enough to know best.

The greatest weapon Satan has in his arsenal to defeat us is his weapon of discouragement.  The human gene, and there are millions in each one of us, ( 14 million in the brain alone) the DNA molecule in each human gene contains enough information about your ancestry to fill thousands of pages.  But, as far as our ability to cope in the gauntlet and harassment of living, it is a learning process unique to each.  Some are slow learners, others are fast learners, but in the learning process of life, and it is not all innate responses, we must depend on others. The home should be that place of entitled refreshment.

Another oasis in the vast desert of opportunity is the schools - government, private, or home schools. My son, my grandsons, were loved too much to inflict on them the chaos of the government school. Usually, when I have a repair man go to one of my buildings, (plumber, electrician, carpenter, etc) I try to meet him so I can learn something about him since I must depend on trusting those with whom I do business. I will never forget, if I live to be much older, my thanking a plumber for making an emergency call. He said, “Doctor you can call me anytime, I work almost all the time, I will continue to work night and day in order to send my children to a private school. I love my children too much to subject them to the “hell” of a public school.”

Parents, who spend their time and fortune, instilling in their most precious possessions of their life, their children, the values they and their ancestors held with deity and defiance, find their children are embarrassed by the gross indecency coming from homes “hatched in hell” defended and enabled by atheist “educators” who are largely unable to do anything else.  So they teach and inflict on children who want to learn and behave the coarseness of the lowest element in their own thinking and curse children who monopolize the situation. 

Every young couple I meet, tenants, employees, etc, who have small children who they love and children soak up knowledge like a sponge and are disciplined, I say always, “keep your child out of the government school.  Work hard, save your money, whatever you have to do, your child is too precious to be put into the holocaust of present day education system.” School should be an oasis of learning and productive behavior.  In spite of the increased tax dollars thrown at them they have become a total disaster.  I have never believed in burning down a house to get rid of termites.  But the public education system must be totally exterminated, the unionized corrupters must be replaced, and people of intelligence need to start over.  The philosophy of John Dewey, “the end justifies the means” and his fellow communist, education travelers, should have been eradicated long ago.  Even the Russians could not tolerate Dewey's his philosophies, but American educators, in their hatred for this country, still hold on to his Godless, insane philosophy. 

The 56 men who signed the declaration, risking everything, their property, their lives, believed this nation would be the oasis of the world.  Blessed of God and establishing justice, eventually, for everyone with rights of liberty ensured by our own freewill.  Thousands of our finest have given life and limb.  It is time for their descendants to thank them by defending the country.