I was late to helping my parents on their property; I was busy watching a movie with an old friend that I had lost touch with on account of his frivolous attitude and lack of maturity. But he had a new last name: Solomon. My parents were curious who I referenced because they did not recognize the name. But once I told them it was the friend from long ago, they were delighted to know he now lived in Tennessee. The movie we watched was some new Christopher Nolan film—the amalgamation of many of his more recent films: “Tenceptionheimer”. It was boring, slow and uninspiring; well-made, but had nothing to say.
Now, I had a sudden and detrimental mission before me. Some unknown force of terrorism was plotting to destroy the world—everything, everywhere, everywhen–if a specific video, sent by them, weren’t found and uploaded to YouTube by 8pm that evening. I employed the help of a haggardly looking lady, whom easily appeared to have suffered addiction and prostitution in her more recent days. She had the file and the two of us went to a secret government facility to transfer it and upload the video.
We were led, evidently too easily, inside the facility by a mysterious individual with shaved head and numerous tattoos. Unbeknownst to me, while we were feverishly trying to transfer the video—searching for cables, computers, and information—the Tattooed Man was tying my ankles with cords. The woman recognized him as someone working for the terrorist organization, and at that moment, he attacked me. I hit him hard with a piece of the computer equipment and broke his neck.
At this, my soul desperately wanted to awake. I was aware that I was in my bed, and I struggled to stir myself several times. I thought that in the natural world I would have the simple solution to merely walk away from this crisis and dust my hands from all of it. But I could not move, nor could I open my eyes. I drifted back into sleep until I and the woman were engaged again after the man had been killed.
I was at a loss. The man was dead, but he had wasted so much of our time and we now had only 2 minutes before 8pm. It was an impossibility.
Then I heard the Lord stop me. He told me everything was going to be alright—and I had the strong sensation that I was with Him in the boat amidst the storm after He had just awakened from a nap. He told me that even if the world ends, we still will have each other in Heaven. I desperately wanted to be with Him there and now. Wave after wave of peace and hope fell upon me, and I was basking in the joy and love of Christ. Nothing mattered any longer except to be with Him.
Then I was in the room again, next to the woman. I looked at the time on a phone and saw that it was 7:39pm. My watch was wrong; we still had plenty of time. I removed a Cat5 cable from a printer and plugged it in to the computer. It did not fit at first, but I removed a piece from the end before it connected. The file transferred; the video uploaded. Nothing made sense.
I believe you may be in one of two places. The fear, worry, doubt, and pressure of pushing and striving far further than you have any business doing with the anxiety that time is running out. Or even the place of having given up, or trying to force yourself out of the fight—trying to wake from a miserable reality into one that is easier to “forget” all of that.
Rest assured in two things: Christ is with you, and none of this truly matters. At the end of all of it, we stand beside Him in heaven. No amount of failure or success will determine or alter that; furthermore, the “follows”, “accolades”, and “victories” you compile on earth will have no effect on the place you are going; only Christ and His love do.
When you realize this, you will see you have much more time than you thought. And you will be operating from a place of wisdom and peace instead of working out of fear and anxiety. The tools will be right in front of you, attached to the things that were in the way before; and though they may not fit at first, they will. People from your past, whom you thought a nuisance and dismissible, will carry wisdom and friendship toward you. And those whom are ugly and broken—though they may not realize it—will help you as well.
I believe God is calling you and me to live from a place of peace, joy, and wisdom. None of this bull-crap matters. The movies, messages, soap-box preaching, and riots might look flashy and be well made, but they aren’t really “saying” anything. And the fear and worry of what’s coming next doesn’t really amount to a hill of Bush’s Baked Beans.
And once we realize that, we will have the tools to fix it.
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33
Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed,
Or the golden bowl is broken,
Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain,
Or the wheel broken at the well.
Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,
And the spirit will return to God who gave it.
“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher,
“All is vanity.”
Ecclesiastes 12:6-8
Keith G. Alderman 