Today is May 27, 2024

I have had a crisis of faith. Go figure. I am way behind the curve but there you go. Wherever you go, there you are. So, I don’t know why I haven’t looked closely before, but last week I came across ‘predestination’. Are you kidding me? How did I miss this?

God, we need to talk. I bought the whole package, I believe that Jesus is God Himself. I believe that He died for all of mankind, and for me too. I gratefully accept Jesus’ sacrifice and put myself in His hands. I accept Him fully as my Lord and Savior. I thank Him daily for who He is and what He has done. I have felt His presence in my life and I try every day to put Him first in my life. We talk, well I talk a lot more than you do but sometimes I remember to listen and your words always resonate as truth. So, tell me about predestination. Does that really mean that no matter how hard I pray for my family that they may not be saved. You have a list? You know I’m not into exclusivity. I reject clubs that are exclusive. I don’t want to be part of anything that doesn’t include everyone. I get that not everyone goes to heaven, but that’s their choice, right? We do have a choice, right? So where did this come from, only some are saved?

I’ve read the passages in the Bible, which I firmly believe is the Word of God. I see what I missed before. You are sovereign. I accept that. But did I really? You are beyond my comprehension. I thought I had a handle on that too but I guess I don’t because I don’t understand. On the other hand, I accept Jesus as my Lord, my King, completely, without question. Well, I do still have questions. As my King He makes decisions I don’t understand, I cannot understand. They are behond my comprehension, my logic, my understanding. My pride insists I can understand if I have enough information but that’s not the truth. This is one of those things.

I struggled all week with predestination. I have questions, God. What about deathbed confessions? Oh, okay, so I won’t know if they are saved, that’s up to you too. Well, what about my family? Okay, I cannot save them, only you can God and again, the final say is up to you. Is that so different from predestination? Well, honestly, maybe not. I have to accept it, all or nothing. I choose all. I talked, you listened. I complained, you didn’t argue. I fussed, you let me. Then the final word came, ‘I Am.’ Okay, I get it. Till next time, God. Thanks for listening.

 one house

four bedrooms

one mom and one dad

two kids

until

they evaporate into

their own lives

the ebb and flow

of lives 

sweep through

one house

four bedrooms

full

until empty

but two still

remain

 one word

one a page

calls another and more

until the page overflows

and grows into

people

places

events

rising action

culmination

epilogue

hey

I wrote a

book

 Wow my last post was 2020 ... what a gap!

So I returned from Israel/Rome in November of 2019 ... and then....

COVID hit!  My daughter, my granddaughter, her three kids and her husband, my other granddaughter, her boyfriend, not her kids, but she was sick three times.  My son and his family avoided it, got vaccine.  We got vaccine, didn't get sick.  granddaughters got vaccine and stopped getting sick.

Las Vegas went dark.  Most of the casinos closed temporarily.  Some still haven't reopened.  Many here survived on federal money and friends and family.  Most of the buffets are still closed, permanently.  We wore masks.  We bought masks, we donated masks, we washed masks, we forgot them and had to go back to the car to get them.  People complained about wearing them and others complained because not everyone wore one.  Crime increased, especially crimes against others.  Most people were frustrated and angry with no place to put the anger.

Donald Trump lost the election and Joe Biden became president.  Vaccines became more available and fewer people started to get sick with COVID.  Some protested against Asians, some violently and some verbally.  There were crimes against people of color by the police.  The police were put under a magnifying glass, some come through clean, others not so clean.  Many became disillusioned with freedom and the American Way.  They seemed to forget that every country is made up of people.  Some want to uphold and obey the law; others, not so much.  

Putin, in Russie decided that he wanted the Ukraine and so stepped in and started bombing it into submission.  The Ukrainians did not surrender, and NATO began warning Russia/Putin of potential war crimes.  Putin insisted he was just taking back what was part of Russia. The neighboring countries are nervous and the US and allies began supplying the Ukraine with weapons, stopping short of stepping in to begin World War III.  The outcome is undecided.

The world decided that perhaps Global Warming was a real threat and began taking steps to reverse the damage to the World's environment.  It may be too late to do that and I don't believe a band aid is going to do much good at this point.  The Las Vegas Valley in Nevada, in the USA, is now considered an arid climate and Lake Mead, which provides most of the water for the Valley is 150' lower than the 1990's, due to a severe drought.  Earthquakes, major storms, unusual heat and cold, tornado's, hurricanes, typhoons, floods, drought, firestorms, and plagues of locusts and disease are the new norm.

This synopsis doesn't cover all of the trouble that is falling onto planet earth, but it's a decent microcosm of our problems, now compounded by an increase in the cost of food and fuel and more.  What is happening here?  I have answers but those who want to know already know the answers and the rest don't really want to know.

storms and disease ramp up

their assault on the earth;

as the skies weep

Thanksgiving is done. Preparing for Christmas I’m going through and sorting out dishes and the detritus of thanksgiving. I pile leftover plastic cutlery and notice a lack of forks and a plethora of spoons.

Spoons everywhere. Even more than knives.  But the forks, they are few … I am the fork.  Used up, moved from plate to plate, turkey, dressing and then dessert.  Not yet done, a second
plate, sandwich with cranberry sauce and gravy, scooped up between my tines, some sustenance lost, but not all.

Dinner is done, some forks find their final home in the trash bin, others make their way to the sink to be washed and reused.  I sit in the drawer, my plastic sides scarred, one tine chipped, but still serviceable … until I finally join my companions in arms … a new life.