Come To The Dance
Come To The Dance
The writer is a world traveler, every continent, in the international weather forecast, I have never heard BBC radio mention a city which I have not visited. I believe I have seen throngs of humanity, airports, streets, daily activities in spite of their language skills, body smells, actions of deceit or happiness, all in the RAW, mostly civilized, all made in the very image of God.
We study the Old Testament, Abraham, Moses, Isaiah; the New Testament, Paul, Peter, even Deemus of the New Testament. We study Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Dwight Moody, and even Theodore Roosevelt. The history of the world has been punctuated by saints and sinners of interest, whose lives were different. Many of whom, presented a good version of self. Never in view, perhaps an obituary in the newspaper, the many human beings who made a great contribution to the world.
What was the average man or woman, the millions of Jewish slaves held in bondage for 400 years, led from bondage by Moses, really like? What were the men and woman who survived the black plague of Europe really like? Their ways of survival, methods of raising children, escaping the torture dungeons of their slave masters? They had only one life too. Did any of these ancients ever smile, laugh, FIND ANY JOY IN LIVING?
Now, we think of the early colonial settlers in America, many, so sick, buried at sea. What was it like to build shelter, eek out a bare existence from the earth when they got off the ship? We know, from written reports, one of which I have here in my house, written with a quill pen, that their happiness came from faith in God which they had crossed the ocean to enjoy. Obviously the joy in their struggle came from God's word and God's hymns. The purpose of the gospel is to deal with sin. As well as supplying the spiritual stamina for faith preservation. Lower animals have survival instincts-will run from a pursuer. Dogs are known to have chewed off a leg to escape a trap, nothing as vicious as a mother bear. In the African bush, I have seen the mother lion always get between her cubs and non-threatening tourists.
I have studied Thomas Malthus (Anglican clergyman-promoter of population control) , Margaret Sanger (starwort of planned parenthood-promoter of population control, by the killing of less desirables, blacks, "weeds") and even Hitler and his ilk (holocaust of population control through Arian supremacy). Strange that in today's world, liberals such as Bill Gates (world's richest man, 66 billion), Henry Kissinger and many other "Big I, little You" world figures, just too anxious, abortion and otherwise, to kill God's creation...red, yellow, black and white, poor, often disabled, yet made in the magnificence of God, all invited to the dance of life...and who knows, many have been CHOSEN-God DRAWS (John 6:44) to spend eternity with Him...real favoritism-selection.
William Booth, irascible, washed clean by the precious blood of Jesus, walked the streets of London, anxious to convert sinners to his marvelous faith. The smelly youth he brought into the Methodist church, cleaned up by salvation, not measuring up to the starched members, forced to go out and form their own group, now the Salvation army, more than 4 million strong, what were these unlearned people like?...probably like the disciples of Jesus. "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus" (Acts 4:13).
This farm boy, his father's farm next to a very large "land hog's" farm, farm worked by black tenants. At noon, I would see the black boys, mules unhitched from the plows, riding the mules to the house...both for water and lunch. The mules were carefully cared for because they were security for the farmer "land hog." The boys, farm hands, lived, human beings, tags of poverty. One told me he had only one change of clothing. Yet, I know one who survived "that life" and went on to establish a famous factory.
Eating my biscuit in Hardees, blind, I overhear everything, a man said, "My mother worked at Efird's Department store for 40 years, standing on her feet all day long, raising five children on her meager income. Now, she gets 743$ a month social security and some food stamps. This is the American dance party."
This writer has found that there is a story in every life. Politicians and beurocrats, so callous, so unashamedly unconcerned in dealing with the common man, have no idea who or what they are dealing with. IF, Jehovah God, has the very hairs on the head of these people numbered (Matthew 10:30), God is well aware of the treatment of every person and I truly believe He has a special place in his heart of love for children (born and unborn), the elderly (even the lonely in nursing homes), and the disenfranchised.
I know that God hates sin, death (Romans 6:23). Basic Christianity is nothing more or less than sins ruin and Christ redemption. Christianity is not complicated, just tough. Most want it easy, their way. Most want to pick and chose what they believe, do not pick scientific laws, else the laws of gravity-motion would not work for them, else the laws of chemical poisons would not work for them. Invited to the dance, "you trust and obey." Never, I repeat, never, underestimate any human being whom God has designed and placed on this earth. The Apostle Paul was the world's greatest bigot. Libraries are full with biographies, men and woman, not cringing in fear, realizing that they are not their own, bought with a great price, belonging to God. It never ceases to amaze me the ability God has invested in people. The manager of one hotel owned by Leona Helmsley told me, "This woman has the ability to look across any banquet hall and tell if one flower in one arrangement is wrongly placed."
God has blessed man with free will, every station of life. No matter how poor or rich, learned or unlearned, in his mercy, he will never force his will. Beyond comprehension, the greatest attribute of God, his forgiveness, and our ability to forgive. "The way of the wicked [is] an abomination unto the LORD: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness" (Proverbs 15:9).
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