Heading Toward the Other Side of the Bridge

There is a bridge that decisively divides humanity into two distinct groups with a chasm between. On each side of the chasm, two dramatically distinct experiences ultimately lay. No one will escape The Bridge leading to a never ending destiny, fixed and unchangeable for the remaining duration, eternally. All will argue 'the fact' of its existence with the danger hinging on our interpretation or rather misinterpretation of This Fact. 

If we place ourselves and flawed, prideful human logic as the gateway to This Fact we might even think this life as the only side of the chasm, sadly to discover that as we arrive at The Bridge, our perception wrong all along. It is not up to you or I to determine if this life is the only side of the bridge, yet we do have a choice in the matter. This choice is not found in our determination, but rather our submission. This option is not one of personal fortitude or pride, but one of humility and angst in the face of our limitations to experience and know The Truth.  This option will move us from focus solely on this life toward a new way of life, seeing that which could lay ahead.  If we embrace The Truth, We will find ourselves living in power and glory, fully cognizant that it emanates not from us, but through us from The One who holds and leads us to The Truth. 

The determination to be humble has it's dangers as well, for humility is apparent and expected on both sides of the abyss, one form genuine and integrated humility, directed by The One,  the other falsely hiding the deep motive, appearing as humility, instead serving and standing as protector of our own pride. Even now as you read this, you are attaching yourself to one side or the other of the abyssal expanse as you press ahead toward your demise and for all of us, our demise is coming.  Daily we press closer and closer, towards The Bridge carrying, in our backpacks, one form of truth or the real deal as we head down our path of life.

All of us, one day, will start to cross The Bridge, narrow and unseen before, none able to return, convey and expose The Truth of what lie ahead.   Even if able to return, would others believe of what we speak? It would be like someone experiencing and living in a world with five dimensions.  Their attempts to get us to experience their 'reality' of added dimension unattainable by our 4D limitations.  But what if some of that 5D world actually connected to our 4D world?  What if hints and glimpses became evident as we explored our 4D world while searching for truth?  What if The One who designed and enabled The Bridge revealed The Truth to those who seek it?   Truthfully, if we don't believe and commit to the existing evidence here, why would we believe a return voyager from the other side of death and the other side of The Bridge? It would be no more factual than our experience here, for experience drives our decision to choose how we live, and die.

We have come to believe that only the genuinely curious ones seeking absolute truth will even consider listening to our arguments of faith and life. I also have come to an understanding that I, in these writings do not hold the keys to enlightenment or destination alteration. Yet I have been given eyes to see and discover the direction toward the discovery of Truth, acceptable character, integrity and identity that is beyond my self-centered nature and desire.  We seekers of Truth are being led, fully trusting that we live as one not bound to this side of the chasm but will be allowed passage across the bridge to the other side.  And, we cannot take any credit for where we stand as we press ahead toward The Bridge.

The only credit we can take is our determination to fully uncover The Truth, a fact finding expedition with a completely open and resolute mind to know, as best we can, the eternal destination that clearly awaits us. This destination either exists or is a figment of our imaginations as a place beautiful and resplendent, beyond anything we can imagine with the other horrible and evil, beyond anything we can imagine.

If we choose to live in ignorance with self imposed, self determined truth, we will find ourselves focusing on the wrong side of the abyssal trench, this life alone.   It is not the determination of living that determines our destination, it is our determination to find Truth, absolute Truth about The Destination. There is only One Word and only One Way to seal our forever existence in the peace and beauty of The Truth.

God, complete as Father, Son (Jesus) and Holy Spirit.

It is not our way, it is His. It is not our determination, it is His. It is not found in our goodness, but in His. We cannot provide sufficient goodness to deserve passage across the chasm, only He can. We cannot hold the complete understanding and ways of Him, for only He is immense and fully righteous beyond anything we could ever imagine in our current state of existence. Only He holds the keys to Truth and way of living that assures us we living as ones, living more as those on the other side of The Bridge. We each will determine, by choice, prideful human logic, or humble human submission before God, if we believe there is more than life here, and if The Truth points to a life beyond.

Indeed One Word, God, One Way, Jesus Christ, stand at the end of bridge.  We each hold the choice of our forever fate, He ultimately allowing or denying our passage. We have, by our living, already made the choice.  As long as we live here, our hearts can remain focused and determined by our interpretation of life here only, or our hearts catching glimpses of this true reality, this life being our only opportunity to demonstrate our faith in the clues He has given.  We can choose response at the mercy of His Offering of grace, Christ, or at His wrath. The choice is ours. Not religion.  Not man's conjuration or conjecture of who He is and what He requires, but the reality and response to His Leading, His Calling.  Each of us instead placing ourselves in His Mercy, and in the quest for absolute Truth; our futures determined fully in whom we trust; God or The World; This life alone, or this life as a part of the quest toward the next.

It is not up to us to judge which side of the path you are on.  The bridge we all are heading for is inescapable.  There is no time to waste, no time to grow lax, no time to stop our pursuit of The Truth, lest we be derailed and end up in the chasm, crossing the bridge thinking we will arrive at it's destination, only being throw off it to an eternal, forever separation. Call us fools if you'd like, but once we leave here and start to cross the bridge, there is no return, no alternate path, no longer a chance to change our belief, our path. On the other side of the bridge?  A place of peace.  A place of absolute truth.  A place where the glimpses of what we saw here in 4 dimensions are blown into infinite dimensions, not just 5.

Our experience, our glimpses can point toward this place of peace, carrying us there bit by bit, unfolding as we wrestle to find The Truth.  How is your examination and search working for you?  We all will find ourselves out of excuses once we leave here and start across The Bridge.  We are not asking you to do exactly as you see us do, with the singular exception being that of seeking The Truth while moving toward The Bridge as one who is living as a truth bearer more and more.  You will recognize it when you see something in our lives aligning with that which is on the other side of The Bridge we all approach.

Ask Him to show you The Way.  Ask Him to show you The Truth.  Ask Him to show you The Life.  We know, you will discover the well placed evidence of the infinite dimensions of God; choosing to live not as one bound to this side of The Bridge, but the other. How will you know if you are seeing the real Jesus or a counterfeit?  Ask Him to reveal The Truth.  I promise, the real Jesus will point to the other side of The Bridge not here.  He will reveal The Way, The Truth and The Life, recorded in the history of the Bible.  In order to see, you must be willing to examine how God reveals Himself to man.  Trust us, it looks nothing like only what we experience here but rather something sweeter, something deeper, something astoundingly richer and more glorious.  The kingdom plan also spans all of history, revealing something more like what or who awaits us on the other side of The Bridge.

Listen, Look and Learn

If you have been waiting for this blog update, I myself have been waiting too.  Listening.  Looking.  Learning.

Copious. The cacophony of concerns cry out with abundance and if we choose to listen to them all, our lives may potentially be rendered useless by distraction.

Listening demands filtering, and this guy has found himself sifting.  Sorting through the cacophony of concerns on the table before me I found myself seated in the presence of angst.  Asked to share and talk with members of our youth group who lost a colleague in a tragic car accident last week, while I spoke, I found myself listening to their struggling souls.  My heart was also listening to my God, from whom all wisdom descends, for His insight and care into their aching, bereaved hearts; and, apparently, He showed up.   I find my soul listening as I ponder the walk of cancer my father faces, his voice optimistic as he heads toward a major surgery.  We stand hopeful  for the removal of the foreign bodies in and around his pancreas; my soul joining his optimism, my prayers and requests for all these souls, the kids and my dad, for comfort and healing. 

Looking requires focus, and I have found these eyes seeking discernment.  As I press through my day, abundant are the visual details vying for my eye.  As I scanned the youth, while addressing their grief, I found myself looking to see into their aching hearts while listening for wisdom that would address their struggles.  Much can be discovered as we examine beyond the obvious and peer deeper.  It would be easy to stop short and miss the opportunity to care for the soul(s) of one(s) before us.  As I look at my dad, I find it isn't only his soul and life I see, but mine as well.  While my dad must deal with his cancer, my mind is flush with the mountains of sweet memories, praying for more to come, expecting these to continue. Looking is not only outward, but also inward.  It is one thing to see, another to process.  We see everything around us, but only choose to select less than two percent at any given moment, our discerning 'focus'.

Learning entails the assembling of listening and looking with applied wisdom and insight.  It is our response to what we are hearing and seeing; it is the choosing of what we allow filling our eyes and ears, and the next step, the doing.  As I watch my now seven month old grandson, it is easy to see that he is the center of his world, and I place myself at his bidding when we are together.  He cares only about his needs and his entertainment hoping that I will do all in my power to give him what he desires; and, mostly, I do.  However, as he grows, he must learn the skill of listening and looking.  He must learn to look beyond himself into the hearts of others.  This is the sign of maturing.

Surely as we mature, our lives should focus more on others than ourselves, right?  Don't get me wrong, even as I have shared previously, part of the process involves personal examination, but if we spend most of our time listening and looking at ourselves, the world around us will tire of our selfish nature avoiding us at all cost.  Nothing would be sillier than this 54 year old man, acting like my 7 month old grandson.  Sweet and wonderful as Ethen is, for me to act as he would not have nearly the charm as he.  No, in fact, it would be repulsive! 

So, it is time.  Time to stop internalizing and start, once again, blogging.  It is part of my 'doing', and I thank my readers for 'listening'.  As I look back to these blogs, I find myself chuckling at the transformation in my writing.  The early days were so intensely cognitive.  These latter days, while cognitive, I hope a bit easier to grasp.  For what good is writing without communication?  Surely as I listen and look, I hope and trust that I learn.  It isn't personal intelligence I seek, rather people intelligence I desire, especially, God intelligence.  Looking, listening and learning about the lives of others, investing in their care, as they have and do in mine.  Will you join me in this quest of intelligence gathering?  Will you engage the cashier at the store?  Will you walk with your spouse embracing his or her deepest concerns?  Will you call that friend who may need encouragement?  Send a note or a card to someone? We really do need each other.  I believe it time to listen, look and learn.