“Because enquiring minds want to know.”

The above title was the advertising tag for one of those insipid tabloids from years past that grace the check-out counter at the grocery store.  They tend to be right there with the candy bars to make it more convenient to rot your body and soul at the same time.  In my mind, tabloids rank up there with Harlequin romances and other forms of mental/emotional snake oil.

Timeless, (but not exactly)

Guess what I received in the mail!  Nope, not the Publishers’ Clearinghouse check for a gazillion dollars.  Evidently, I’m now part of the Nielsen Ratings for TV watching.  (I can just sense a collective fearful shuttering coming from Hollywood…right.)

One of the questions on the form was about the number of TV’s in my home.  Only one, but it’s actually a bit on an outdated enquiry since you can pull up just about anything on any computer or mobile device.

And I’ve now the next form regarding which television shows I actually watch.  One (of the few that I bother with) is called Timeless.  I enjoy history, and this is a show about time travel back into particular events, sometimes obvious, sometimes not so obvious, that manifestly molded our current society.

The running theme is about two groups of people, each with a time machine, traipsing through our past like bulls in the china shop.  One team is trying to re-form history into their own likeness while the other is trying to stop them and fix what has been changed. 

Makes me consider two very special trees that God put in the Garden, (no, neither team has tried to travel back quite that far yet…)

 “…In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

I can picture our unfortunate fore-mother, Eve, meeting the serpent coiled around a branch in the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  That’s the fruit she tasted and shared with her husband, Adam, “and their eyes were opened”, but not in the way for which they (and we) were created.  Now the burden of figuring out this life was no longer on God, but on themselves. 

And we’ve been mucking about in this confused and deluded state ever since.  Just turn on the news.  (Not one of the shows I usually watch, considering the Neilson Ratings I mean.)

There are those who posit our expulsion from the Garden at this point in history was an act of mercy, and I agree.  Some say if we been left there to eat of the Tree of Life, we would have been left in our sinful state for eternity, or something like that. 

I’m no theologian, but even just watching a show like Timeless gives a glimpse of how much more of a mess we could have made if eating from the Tree of Life had included things like power over time (which it very well may have.)  Any science fiction geek can tell you what a fascination the human psyche has for time travel; how many of us would travel back to change certain things if we could?  Gag!  Can you imagine?!?

Which is what Timeless does, and gives a pretty good description, perhaps without meaning to, of what a mess it would make not only of history, but of the human heart.

More importantly, this restriction gives me another clue to the grace and sovereignty of God, to His creative purpose, in that I have only a limited power over time, and it’s just in a forward sense.

“I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

And I don’t need a time machine for that.

Genesis 2:8; Philippians 3:13,14  Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

“I’d like to buy the world a Coke” just won’t cut it

Regardless of what you may have thought of either American presidential candidate in the very divisive 2016 election, one thing can surely be said of both of them: neither shied away from confrontation!  I supposed when you get to that level of office, confrontation management (of some form…) is a prerequisite. 

Yet another reason you’ll never be voting for yours truly.  Ever.

Confrontation is not high on my list of intrinsic qualities.  There’s a definite art to it.  Granted, some may seem to use only the sledge hammer approach when a gentle tap is all that’s required.  Then there’s me.  I’m like, “can’t we all just be nice and get along?”  But the reality is, no, we can’t.  And in this world unfortunately, nor should we.  Much to the chagrin of the 1970’s Coca-Cola commercial, we cannot all hold hands and teach the world to sing in

Chasms are optional; instructions are not

I have to admit, I’m a real Chronicles of Narnia fan.  I never read them until doing so with my children.  The movies don’t do justice to the books, with the possible exception of the first one.  The special effects are, well,… effective, to say the least, but something is lost on the silver screen as the series progresses.  But then, I’m not an industry professional so who cares?

There is one scene, however, in Movie #2 or #3 that comes to mind; it’s the one where the kids are futilely wandering lost through a forested area when Lucy sees King Aslan across a chasm and bids her to follow.  Naturally, no one else sees him and neither do they believe Lucy’s “vision”.  To make matters more definite, there is no discernible way to get across the chasm, even if Aslan were there.

Lucy gives in the others’ opinions of the situation, which causes problems and a later (gentle but definite) rebuke from the lion, i.e., if he bids her come, she is to come regardless of what the others may think, and regardless of there not being an immediate and obvious path.  Lessons, lessons…

Close that book and open another:

Israel’s rebellious king has recently set up new gods with all the trappings.  In keeping with historic trend, the Lord Yahweh sends His notice of displeasure through a “man of God” who arrives on the scene with some pretty miraculous confirmation.  The king, a bit shaken, asks the man to come dine with him; however, the invitation is thus declined:

“For the LORD gave me this command: ‘You must not eat or drink anything while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came.’”

Pretty clear instructions, and so far everything God told this man has panned out. No need to doubt the message’s veracity on this point either.

Until another so-called prophet lies to him, saying “an angel” appeared instructing the man of God was to return with him and eat at his house.

Why did this convince the man of God??  I’m sure he was probably temptingly hungry, and that didn’t help, but does God change His mind?  What evidence did this liar have for Plan B?  Spoiler alert—it didn’t end well for the man of God.

Not that I would have done any better, left to my own accord.  And certainly the Lord also says there is wisdom “in a multitude of counselors.”  I readily admit I need the help of others to sometimes discern God’s will in a situation (it’s part of that koinonia thing).  But on the other hand, there are some commands that God gets through pretty clearly even to me; nevertheless, Satan will try to bring his own pack of lies into the muddle, sometimes through those whom we love and trust.

Like Lucy’s family, for example.  “Did you REALLY see him?”

Sounds suspiciously like an old serpent in a Garden long ago, “Hath God REALLY said…?”

1 Kings 13:9  Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.