#1973-Winning God's Lottery

"God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?"

— Nietzsche, The Gay Science, Section 125

            If this writer could look into a mirror, after a life of blindness, I wonder if I could recognize myself. During this lifetime of sightlessness, a world of hearing and smelling...just guessing how things appear to the "normal." I think I realized the difference in what God see's and know's, compared to the knowledge of mere mortals.

"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."  2 Peter 3:8–9

God does not own a wrist watch...does not own a calendar. He understands our lives better than we do, and it is all in his hands...his business. Our length of time on this Earth is up to him, none of our business. HE is in charge.

            The first time I was in Bombay, India, the death wagons still patrolled the streets. In that huge/poverty-ridden nation, a city of 18 million people; people are born on the streets, never leave the streets, and finally die on the streets. A death wagon goes around every morning, throwing the dead onto the wagon to be hauled off for cremation. Is it much different from the many in more fortunate countries, who never realize the importance/gift of life? Far too many, I have known, take the wrong trail after it has already been paved, just playing games with God...and games of pretending/pretention with one another. Many may never know the joy of redemption...chosen by God for eternal life. When/If we consider that ONE day with God is as 1,000 years, we'd have a better understanding of eternity, and a better understanding of why things are as they are...the inequalities of human existence here on this Earth. In God's timetable, the middle ages were only yesterday.

            I was in the Serengeti, at a game reserve in Africa, watching a huge heard of wildebeest (thousands) when I noticed over in my periphery (I had some vision at that time), several large lions hidden in the bush. Of course, as soon as one of the wildebeest detected the lions, there was a tremendous stampede. They left the old/disabled/newly born behind. So, of course, these were the first upon which the lions feasted. So it is with life, and we consider such to be unfair.

            My world has been the radio, listening to great voices. One, Mother Angelica, the catholic Nun who founded the Catholic television network, said "God allows the ridiculous so that he can deal with the miraculous." The world scoffs at God, but has no other place to look for guidance in this world. In America, as in so many places/nations, Christianity is rapidly being reduced to (becoming) "superstition."

            My son, a seminary PhD professor, has just returned from Japan where he takes seminary students each year, speaking at Japanese Universities; just as he does in other parts of Asia and Europe. Even historical Shinto's, once the greatest religion of Japan, is now just referred to by their own people as a cult or superstition. One of the times I was there, there was a Shinto shrine, I still have the photograph somewhere which states in English "stay off, some consider this sacred." The road to hell is paved with religion. I saw so much religion in India, the most religious country in the world. I will never forget the monasteries/monks in the Himalayan countries...old men, and even young boys, dressed in their robes, shaved heads; they were far different from the Muslims in the predominately Muslim nations, where there was so much hatred in the eyes of everyone. 

           

            My first trip to Afghanistan, the Khyber pass, a camel train coming through much as it did 2,000 years ago. I was in that "no mans land" where the famous Khyber rifles were produced. It is from these areas that the terrorists select seduced dope addicts to put on explosives and blow up people. All these people only have one life to live, also. Our lives on this Earth are not just a "dress rehearsal." It takes much trust to realize that the work of God is none of our business. It takes such trust to understand why 283 million human beings were killed in a Tsunami. He is in charge. It takes this type of trust for us to understand why the most innocent of life are aborted...why some of the greatest minds never get an opportunity for education, why some live lives stuck in a wheelchair (only those in wheelchairs can understand the real horror of public restrooms, having to use the restroom alone at night). I have had some ignorant and innocent people remind me of what blindness is like...they have no idea. Only one who has suffered the pain of cancer, may understand it; but, let us never forget that only those who have known the horrors of sin, may appreciate salvation. I don't want anyone talking to me about sin, who has never known sin...repentance, who has never repented...salvation, who has never been saved. I don't want anyone talking to me about poverty, who has never been poor...who has never endured the indignity of using an outhouse.

            Many of us did not win life's lottery, but God's greatest gift, greater than any lottery amount, his gift of love and salvation was given unconditionally.