January 2010
Perspective


You will have to bear with me on this one. It will be random and all over the map.

Getting older is not as “fun” as I thought it would be. Now I see why “old folks” were always considered grumpy. Old folks have been through a lot, seen a lot, experienced a lot, cried a lot, laughed a lot and in general, know what life is all about.

As I have, from time to time, I will take opportunity to insert a passage from the Bible.
1 Corinthians 13 verse 11 the Apostle Paul writes… When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.

How do you know when you “become a man (woman)”? What clicks in your brain that makes a difference in how you think, act and talk? My thinking has changed, I no longer look at life as though I were 18 or 25 or 40. Yet, the things that are important have grown to greater proportions. In some ways, I still think like I did when I was 20. In most ways, I have a better understanding and appreciation for a new way of thinking. Things that once were funny, when I was 20 – 25 are no longer funny. It’s not that I am grumpy, I just have a different perspective and it is no longer funny to laugh at other people and their “short-comings”.

This is not where I thought I was going with this writing.

Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, into the future. Remember when the Y2K was the super crisis? It was going to take down the entire world and we would eventually get back to living like we did in the 40’s and 50’s. Well, we made it into the 21st Century and we are still here. Aside from computers and instant contact with anyone, anywhere around the world, life is just about the same as it was in 1990. There are wars abounding in the same places as they were in the 1990’s. There is still famine around the world. There are still starving children and the homeless in America. The American government has sent and spent millions and millions of dollars in America and around the world to help fix these problems, yet to no avail. The American people are told to give more in taxes to help the poor. And we still have the poor, or should I say, the next generation of the poor. Do you ever ask yourself, why? As the saying goes, when you find yourself in a whole, the first thing to do is, stop digging.

In the 1700’s and 1800’s the slaves were the oppressed people of the land. Abraham Lincoln waged war on the congress and the nation, to end slavery, which ended in a truly long and bitter war. Today, the government of the USA has put the slaves back into captivity. But this time it is not just the black race, but also the white race and anything in between. The government has said over and over for the past 60 years, “Oh, you just can’t make it on your own. You need our help. We can make life easier for you, (not better, but easier)”. The government has made poverty a growing business run by thieves, swindlers, those who want to have rule and superiority over others; put someone else down so I can feel higher, better, more intelligent. The bottom line is that… if you can not see these things, maybe you have not “become a man”, yet. Maybe you are still childish.

My perspective didn’t change until I was about 30 years old. I was still thinking childishly and acting very immature. You may be asking, “Okay, what happened and how did you “grow up”?” I’m glad you asked…. I knew there was more to life than I had been experiencing up to that point. I had watched a dad abuse his wife and kids because of alcohol. I had watched friends destroy their lives with drugs. I was the product of a short marriage, 2 ½ years, because of my wife’s affair. I had watched others in various forms and fashions live, or should I say exist, in various states of dysfunction. I was searching for something that would answer the questions of life. The musical group, Chicago, had a song out called, “Searchin”. Searchin’ for the questions of life… Who am I?

Not only did I want to know, “What was going on?” I wanted to know why? But, deep down, I wanted to know, who I was. Was my life meaningful? Did I have a purpose? Who was this little boy from a small town, who had moved into the big city? Was I different (weird)? Did I know as much as the “city kids”?

It took almost 30 years on this planet to discover the answers. The search began with attending a Bible Study. Please, don’t turn me off at this point. I know, some are saying, “I’ve tried religion and it didn’t work for me.” I too, had a religious up-bringing. That is like getting a vaccination, you get just enough of the bacteria or virus to make you not feel good and to give your body a chance to build up an immune reaction so as to not get the real thing. Religion is man's search for God, Christianity is God reaching down to man, only through Jesus, and making a way back to Him. The Bible is so simple that a child can understand it, yet so complicated, theologians study it for their entire life. The simplicity is this… Jesus died on the cross for the sin of the entire human race. If you accept this simple, but profound statement, you are on your way to becoming a man, (discussed above). The day I did that I did not know everything about the Bible. All I knew was that Jesus died for my sin and I was free to live for Him. Did you get that? Free to “live for Him”. I was no longer bound by my old way of thinking and acting. I was a slave that had been emancipated, (discussed above). After 35 years of reading and studying, I know a lot more that I did. I have a new perspective. I now see a lot of possible reasons why my dad was like he was. I understand why my ex-wife was the way she was. I understand the bondage we all lived under, because of the, yes, sin problem, not doing things, God’s way.

No one is forcing you. You have to make the decision on your own. It has been put this way… When the pain of remaining the same is greater, than the pain of change, then you will change.

Following the Shepherd,
Ron
reskew@aol.com
reskewsquad.blogspot.com