SKEPTICISM

In His book, Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life, Chuck Swindoll tells the story of a little nine-year-old boy who came bursting out of a Sunday school class, and grabbed his father by the leg and said. “Man that story about Moses and those people crossing the Red Sea was great.”  The father looked down at him, smiled and asked the little boy to tell him the story. 

“Well, the Israelites got out of Egypt, but Pharaoh and his army chased after them.  So the Jews ran as fast as they could until they got to the Red Sea.  The Egyptian Army was gettin’ closer and closer.  So Moses got on his walkie-talkie and told the Israeli Air Force to bomb the Egyptians.  While all that was happening, the Israeli Navy built a pontoon bridge so the people could cross over.  And they made it!”

The father was shocked and in his surprise  asked his son.  “Is that the way they taught you that story?”

“Well, no, not, exactly” said the little boy, “but if I told you the way they told us, you would never believe it. 

And that’s the message I offer you today.  The Bible says that God created the heavens and the earth, and all beings that ever existed.  The intellects of the world come along and just like the nine year old, they change the story.   Otherwise, no one would believe it.  Just like the little boy, the academian starts off with his story. 

Many years ago, there was a great explosion, and from all the shattering activity, a little particle or speck of some sort ended up in the water and miraculously over many millions of years turned into some sort of life form. That in time, turned into a fish and later got washed up on to the shore, grew legs and started walking.  Then with more time it grew into an ape or monkey. From there the brain developed in size and intellectual brilliance, and then ipso facto man steps into being.   

Then our Father comes along and says, “Yeah, right, is that the way it really happened?”  And unlike the little boy, the brilliant intellects of the world say, “Yep that’s the way it happened. 

The Bible teaches there will be scoffers in the last days, who will laugh at the truth, and say, that could never happen.

For example, a man built an ark, which saved his family and all the animals.  Gen. 1

Another by the name  of Peter steps out on the water, and walks for a few steps.  Matt. 14:22-31

A little boy has a lunch of five barley loaves and two fish, which feeds five thousand.  John 6:5-13

The blind are made to see, the lame are made to walk, and even the dead are brought back to life.

Yeah, right, we all know that could happen.  Of course, we know these are just made up stories that stir up our emotions once a month or on holidays when we walk through the stained glass windows. 

And then, there is a story of a man who came to earth, being born of a virgin; was put to death on a cross, and placed in a tomb.  He arose from the grave, ascended to heaven, and is coming again, to take us to live eternally with Him. 

That might not be the way the little boy or the intellect would describe it, but that’s the way I choose to believe.   Dock Caton 01/29/2100  

Journey of the Despondent or What's in a voice

Chapter (?)

Another chapter is taken from the life’s story of the modern day Pilgrim on his journey to the Celestial City.  This chapter, yet un-numbered, comes after many years had passed from the time of his landing at home in the US, after his first pilgrimage.  It came as he was passing through some acute uncertainties in his life  that created perilous cross roads, which became critical points in his life.  He had to pass through some zero hour catastrophes that some may call mid life crises.  Yet by God’s grace, He made it through.

The Pilgrim woke out of a stupor.  His mind roamed back to those years of climbing off that plane after his first pilgrimage and trying to figure out what he would do, where he would go, and what he would become.  What would the transformation of his children into adult hood look like?  He knew at this time they needed orderliness; symmetry and routine in what could have been a life of chaos for many. He found himself now at almost 50 years of age and seemingly nothing to show for his life’s work.  He found he had awakened from the past 16 years, and very little if anything had changed.  The only difference now was he was going through life in survival mode, and he began feeling that same numbness in his life that he felt at the death of his father many years before.  His zeal for his mission had gone. He felt almost in despair, still he drudged on looking and longing to find that Celestial City.  He knew He could never give up, but energy was waning.  He past through a period of severe depression and many days and nights He fought through battles of spiritual warfare.  He went through many torturous dreams of demons right out of the pits of hell.   He had visions of little beings that came to visit him at night and plagued him with all sorts of flashing lights and pounding thunder in his head.  And then all of sudden from nowhere, a voice came to him like the voice of an angel and shook him from the torturous treacherous web in which he was entangled. These words floated into his mind like a ship gliding full sail across the midnight mist of the ocean blue.

THE JOURNEY OF THE DESPONDENT

You walk across the stellar plane; cry out to man you have no name.

No name?  No name?  The great I AM did give you name.

Your feet tread over desert bare.  You think there is no one to care.

No one to care?  No one to care?  My son, remember I placed you there.

You journey on through toil and strife, and then declare there is no life. 

No life?  No life?  My friend I give abundant life.

You talk and talk and make the choice; to grieve and sigh you have no voice. 

No voice?  No voice?  Not so my child, you do have voice. 

I give you life, I give you breath;

I give you victory over death.

I give you joy resound your name,

Remove the heartache guilt and pain.

Always let your heart rejoice;

And never doubt I give you voice.

From that point on, he knew he would never give up.  He would never permit those demonic trances to overcome him.  He continued for a while to suffer through what seemed like hypnotic figures in front of him, until one night something happened that started a ground swell to turn his life around.  

The date, 03/10/98.  The time, 3:00 A.M.   The setting, a dream.

An angel appears in a dream and says to him.   Take heed, they are trying to take your voice.  They are trying to destroy you.  “Who?” queried the weary traveler?  They are trying to take your honor and your sense of being.   You cannot give up your voice; wake up, wake up. 

Pilgrim recognized this voice and he knew that this was more than just a call to get up and go to work.  This was a higher calling that he recognized from earlier travels and experiences when he had felt the power of a living God watching over him.   He woke up and grabbed a pen and paper from a table at his bedside.  His pen at first dropped a trickle of ink onto the parchment and then it started to swirl into a flowing stream across the paper.

You continue on your journey, confidence your gate and stride.

Then all at once the forked stick pricks you in the side.

You gasp for breath, you faint inside, as the voice tries to hold you dear.

But earth screams out, give it up, give it up, nothing you need to fear.

The voice is the spangled garland I intended that you wear.

To give it up and lose the crown is a bigger cross to bear.  

AND WHAT IS THIS VOICE?

At first, just sheer anxiety, don’t worry just keep it in tact.

But if it’s used to great extreme will throw you off your track. 

Later it is known as passion, the voice now has a name.

But not intended to be given up, nor lead to endless shame.

And now it it’s called intentness, not something to give away.

And if you try to push it back, just see what price you’ll pay. 

Because it’s the voice, your Master’s gift, don’t let it leave your side

Just polish it up and use it, don’t give in to foolish pride. 

MY VOICE-----MY VOICE, I CAN’T GIVE IT UP.  IT IS MY HONOR, MY SECURITY, MY ONLY HOPE FOR SELF ESTEEM.  I IF LOSE IT, I LOSE EVERYTHING.  I HAVE NOTHING LEFT.  

Pilgrim got out of bed, and feeling the anguish of an ancient nobleman who had just drifted in from a violent battle, he picked himself up, and put on the armor of a combative chevalier, and started another pointless day in the lifeless profession of a government virtuoso. 

Trouble in River city

You’ve got trouble.  Trouble, that’s right, Trouble with a capitol T. You got a pool table right here in your community.

Today our nation has trouble with a capitol T, but those troubles are much greater than a pool table in your community or even your own basement.  However, if we think the nation has troubles, we need to take a look at real trouble, our very own personalized River City.

My name is not Harold Hill, and I am not The Music Man.  But I do see trouble. I see our nation crumbling spiritually, and I am really concerned about what I see.  My concern in particular is that I have many personal friends right here in our own River City that I believe are in dire need of just a little bit of help along their crumbling and broken path.  

There was another Harold Hill, who walked in Bible times and bore the name of Jeremiah.  In his day, things were not too much different spiritually than they are today.   We can blame our politicians; we can blame the economy, the stock market, immigration, or global warming.  But the bottom line is, ultimately we are responsible individually for our own plight.   

Sometimes when I look around and see all the problems plaguing our society, this hopeless feeling begins to run all through me.  But then I stop and pause long enough just to remember that I have already won the battle.  At that point, I have a real peace that takes over and replaces that feeling of dread, fear and hopelessness.  

Over this past three or four years, I have held a deep settled peace that I have never experienced in my entire life; and especially, since I have gone back to work at the job I probably should have been doing for the past 27 years.  That job is helping people move to a higher plane from wherever they may be on their pilgrimage.  No greater peace can be felt, than when one has been able to help out a friend who has been stuck in the mire and muck of a broken life, after stumbling and falling while on his journey.  

When I started out in life, that was my major goal, and in fact, the only goal that I had.  Somewhere along the beaten path, I managed to lose sight of that goal.  No, I am not working for money, and I receive no compensation, except for a peace of mind that passes all understanding, and a deep settled satisfaction that comes from seeing someone growing in his or her spiritual walk.  With that peace comes the desire to chime out with Harold Hill, and Jeremiah.  Yes, we will have trouble, but take heart the victory is already won.  But whether from our own bad choices, or caused by circumstances totally out of our control, we still have to learn to live with the consequences and the broken fragments that are left from a seriously scarred life, resulting from walking in a decayed and dying society.  But victory is found in the living Word. 

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.   John 16:33.

Now lets take a look at the real Trouble that is going on in River city.  You are standing in the daze of a misty fog when you realize that your stocks have just taken a huge pummeling.  You have debt up to your ears, your home is being foreclosed, and even if you could stay there, the roof is leaking, water is spewing from every faucet and the heating system has broken down in the sub-0 weather.  Your boss is demanding 3 more hours weekly (If he hasn’t already let you go) on top of the 50 hours you are already putting in. Your 4 cars, in the garage, and driveway are broken down; breaks worn, engine dead, bald tires and broken fan belts. You have no money for gas, not even enough to purchase a bus or train ticket, let alone for groceries, and the much needed new fur coat or latest style leather jacket.  Fiber optics service for your large screen has been shut off, your boat sitting in the barn out back has a rusty hole, and the ski-jet won’t start up any more. Your marriage is falling a part; grandma is dying of cancer and grandpa of heart failure.  The children got left out of all the myriads of extra curricular activities at school, because they missed too many days and besides there was no money to buy enough costumes and equipment for all these activities.  And yet, down in the basement is a beautiful pool table.  My friend, you not only have a pool table, you have a cesspool. 

Please believe me when I say, I am not making light of your problems, or the hundreds of legitimate problems that many of our flock as well as people across the nation are going through right at the moment.  I for one have been there.  I know what a lot of these problems feel like, and by God’s grace, I am not there now.  But I can tell you most assuredly; He has brought me through many of these storms, and if He provides me grace, I am never going there again, ever.  And that is the purpose for this little story.  I am not writing to point out your problems, or enhance the ones you already have by making you feel worse than you already feel.  My motive for playing the role of Harold Hill at this juncture is to give my best shot at helping you pull yourself out of the miry clay when life seems so hopeless.  You see, I know about slimy, murky, rivers that we get caught up in, whether by some mere accident, or happenstance which was out of our control.   Maybe it was the simple circumstances of life that just happen that we did not cause, nor could we prevent.   But sometimes we fall into these traps because of our own bad choices that we make along the way.  I’m sure we all feel like this at some point in our lives even if we are not there right at the moment.  As for me, my calamities are described best by picturing myself drifting down a muddy murky river, through a barren desert headed nowhere.  I am floating desperately along this slimy river, with nothing to hold on to, and already gurgling for breath after going under two or three times. And out on the edge of the river is old Harold.  He shouts out at me as I float by on my way down this meandering river, desperately grabbing for any little dead branch or twig to hold on to.  “Hey Dock, you got a pool table in your basement. “

Wow, he must really know all the troubles I am facing.  I just want to cry out,  “Hey Harold, take that log out of your own eye before you start preaching at me.”  (Matt. 7:3)  Harold may have understood Jeremiahs problems, but he sure doesn’t know anything about mine.  And then I stop and think maybe Harold means well, maybe I should pause and listen to him for a moment, just to see if he can help me.  Sometimes just that one little pause is enough for a quick lesson in humility, and at the very least let me grab hold of a tree stump or a root  of  a dead tree protruding from the  barren desert at the edge of the river.   

But all these problems must be brought into perspective.  Let me give you an example of one such individual from Biblical times.  Jeremiah was preaching to his own people, declaring the truth, but he was placed in stocks and beaten with 40 lashes.  How would we hold up under that kind of pressure?  His once trusted friends called him "MAGOR-MISSABIB" which means “terror on every side.”  Jeremiah spent time trying to figure out why his mother had not had an abortion. He cries out:

Why did I ever come forth from the womb to look on trouble and sorrow, so that my days have been spent in shame?  Jeremiah 20:18.

Chuck Swindoll, in his book “Growing Strong in the Seasons of life” quotes the words of a French Nobel Prize winning author Francois Mauriac.  The setting is the Nazi death camp at Birkenbau, and Mauriac speaks of a young man by the name of Elie Wiesel.

“On that terrible day, horrible even among those days of horror, when the child watched the hanging of another child, who, he tells us, had the face of a sad angel, he heard someone behind him groan: Where is God?  Where is he?  Where can he be now?”   

This writer has never faced the physical dilemma that Jeremiah faced, nor has he faced the horrors of the Nazi death camps.  But he can tell you that emotionally he has had some of those same feelings, of hopelessness and helplessness.  The feeling of death has gripped him to the point that he felt there would be no return.  I truly believe we have to come to a point of realization of all the TROUBLE, that we are actually in. We have to envision our own pool table in the basement, or the cesspool that we are actually living in. We also have to realize that we cannot depend on Harold Hill, nor any other human being to carry us out of that rubble heap we find ourselves in.  We must reach a point of brokenness that we are willing to give up all the worldly things that distract us from His mercy.   We have to let go of that rope that we so desperately cling to and with just that one simple stroke of faith; we fall into the hands of a loving, merciful God.  Then with that action, we move into a different level of growth, a higher plane than we have ever found before; higher ground, a sure footing for our feet to walk in. That is the real victory many are desperately searching for.  For some, this may be a simple first step that leads to salvation.  For others, it is a step toward living on a higher plane.  But for all, it is the moving of the Holy Spirit for such a time as this, in our time of turmoil and TROUBLE. 

There truly is light at the end of the tunnel, and a hope for peace.  I know, because I found it through many verses equivalent to the words in John 6:33 shown above.  I know because the victory was claimed many years ago when Christ made the promise to me and to the world. 

 I am going away to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you with me that you also may be where I am.  You know the way to the place I am going.  John 14 :3, 4. 

And how do we know that way? 

Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  John 14:6.

And that my friends is what Harold would say brings real peace. 

    

     DC 01/05/10

  

One More Mountain

So many times in my life I have looked back with discouragement to see that I had not come as far as I had thought. At times on my trek up a new mountain it is hard for me to see all the different paths and turns as I climb.

Jesus says to me: Just keep your mind focused on my words and you will be fine. I will put you on top of mountains and high places from time to time so you will be able to see through the glass darkly. (I Cor. 13:12) These are just plateaus and resting places. You are beginning to understand what it means to live your life on a higher plain. But you are still not home yet. Keep in mind there are still more rivers to cross and mountains to climb until I meet you at the final summit. Keep your heart and mind in the right place, and you will do all right.

You used to walk in these ways (the evil ways), in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: Col. 3:7-8

Lord, my frayed past was worn with old beaten paths that I had trodden over and over. Through the years because of not being able to catch on, or understand what you were trying to tell me, I created ditches and gullies in the terrain that caused deep valleys. Over time those valleys seemed impossible for me to muddle through.

2b Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Col. 3:2b-4

Yes Lord, now I can see you wanted me to walk through these valleys, because you knew that I needed them in order to grow. There were valleys with shadows of death but you were faithful and guided me through. (See Psalm 23) And now more and more I am beginning to understand what you have to tell me about the green fields and pastures that I can dwell in. I begin to drink more and more from the streams of living water, and then things begin to make a little bit of sense, and your Words become much clearer.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Col. 3:15

But Lord, the higher I get, the more of the ridges and the veers to the right or left that I have taken off the path becomes more in focus. Standing on the plateau and looking down becomes encouraging as I can see clearly where I have been. I look back over this year and I see many victories you have given me, and I am well pleased. My heart rejoices and I am filled with your peace that passes understanding. Help me to be thankful.

He looked at me and said, when you are looking up, you see the top of the peak and it looks wonderful, but you think to yourself, there is just no room to live up there. Then when you arrive, at the very top, it is no longer a peak, but a wide-open plateau, where you can breathe. You can live, move and have your being. That becomes your resting spot.

26b And he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and have our being. Acts 17: 26b-27

My Lord and God. There is much more room to breathe, and I can move freely. But there are many more hills to climb. So help me reach out more and more every day, and help me to find you.

Dock Caton 12/27/10