Black Sands

It is the unexpecteds in life which give us problems, we develop faith muscles through tough times. If you get up in the morning and think you can take on a gorilla, god will send you one.

Traveling the world, I had to be ready for the unexpected, as my mother said when I went off to college, “everything will be very different there, you will be exposed to things you would never expect, but if you are not ready for the unexpected you should not leave home.” I had always seen bright sandy beaches such as Wrightsville Beach, where I still have a beach home right on the ocean. On the island of Tahiti, I was so surprised to find black sand...from the lava of active volcanoes in that part of the world. We hear much about hunger on these islands in the South Pacific, but I found that these people enjoyed better nutrition than anywhere else in the world. The land grows marvelous fruits and vegetables, you will never find these despicable seedless melons and tomatoes there. One day, the more advanced civilizations will regret their hybrid, genetically modified foods.

Just think of the black sand, black dirt from the worst ecological disaster in the history of man, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico spill millions of gallons of oil into the most ecologically sensitive, marine-life sensitive, botanical-life sensitive, tourist-life sensitive area of the world. The blackness of the sand does not compare to the blackness of the hearts of those responsible...who week after week both corporate and federal officials lied to the people of the world about the disaster. Now, after many weeks and months, spewing crude oil in the waters of the gulf, still bewildered they still do not know what to do, except lie. As the sands of the gulf states get blacker, prospects for a better economy in America get darker.

A real democracy, a government blessed by god must depend on virtuous people. When you have corporate officials, government officials (from the White House down), lying about everything, people lose all respect for government. Where are the learned individuals, or groups of individuals at the university-level or other places with letters after their names and “supposed” intelligence enough to have backup systems, if not solutions for most “unexpecteds”.

A man of my exact age, who I love to hear expound about world conditions, Robert Novak, died recently. He was a Jew who converted to Catholicism, he like other intelligent people, knew the world was heading into a third World War, already, it's beginnings in the middle east. We saw the first shots fired this week involving Gaza, it was in Gaza that Philip the evangelist led the Ethiopian eunuch to Christ and baptized him (Acts 8:27) Today, 1,500,000 Arabs live in the small area known as Gaza, several boatloads of pacifists from Turkey tried to enter Gaza via the Mediterranean Sea with humanitarian supplies. Several of the pacifists were killed and wounded, bringing world condemnation to Israel. Of course, Israel does not care about world opinion anymore than Russia or China cares about world opinion. As this third world war heats up, Israel has already dispatched its nuclear submarines throughout the area and will not be afraid to use its missiles. Damascus will eventually become a big pile of sand. When I walked down the streets of Damascus, especially the street called “strait” upon which the apostle Paul walked, I could not help but believe that its thousands of years were about to end, just as had evil Babylon.

Biblical significance does not shield a people or city from secular carnality, holiness is not a human trait. 27% of Americans do not know why we celebrate Memorial day. Americans like Europeans, even people in the most religious area of the world, the middle east, walk and talk in blackness. Robert Schuller, Rick Warren, Brian McLaren, Joel Osteen and most of the world's denominations are just soft peddling darkness instead of light.

In Moses's proclamation to Asher, he was told that he would get the strength needed for each day. “And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be. “ (Deuteronomy 33:24-25) Moses knew the trip would be tough, he knew that combat boots, soft loafers, flip-flops, would not work. God has not promised us an easy journey, but will give us the footwear to endure it. Everyone wants a resurrection, but no one wants a cross.

We are a spell-bound people, Webster's old dictionaries describe spells as magical or forms of enchantment. Daily, we have the spells of lies from the world, the flesh, the devil manifested in government controlled news. Deceitful protuberances from government, pornographic delectation exuded from every area of secular life, pastoral promiscuity from every area of temporal life.

Hollywood and journalism have cast a spell of blackness on America which no amount of sunlight can dispel. Woody Allen, in his film Annie Hall finds in their relationship light can sometimes overcome darkness. Difficult, but enough white sand on the beach will cleanse the darkness, this is the hope of the world.