My Testimony, Part 2

Back to Spain. Before we went to that country, I had read The Exorcist, and was thoroughly frightened by its content. I realized that if the devil and evil were real – and that book convinced me about all that – then God Himself – the source of all goodness and beauty – was real as well. It surely wasn’t a solid foundation, but it was a start.

Being in Spain with Allen didn’t dissolve my depression. In fact, a day or two after Allen picked me up from the Seville Airport, I learned something that I dreaded: Allen was to be sent off regularly on a ship (BTW, he was a “land sailor,” so this was not good news), and these deployments could last weeks, or they could last months. No one told you anything, and – as you might have guessed – this was the era when low-ranking seamen’s families were all but forgotten. We were treated as appendages, and very little was done to keep our spirits up. We had no television or phone in Spain, and so I turned to reading and sewing while Allen was at work.

The bookstall at the Navy Exchange (our local store on base) was pretty thin and uninspiring. However, in my aimless pursuit of some truth, I picked up a book by Taylor Caldwell entitled Great Lion of God. It was a novel about the life of Saul of Tarsus, later Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles. I did not know it at the time, but this book would introduce me to the Savior.

The first part of the book was mostly fictionalized, but much of it was plausible and interesting. Miss Caldwell worked in the idea of sin and guilt quite well – and, as a Catholic, I identified with all that. At first, it offered me no answers, but I kept reading – what else was there to do? One evening, I came to the part of Saul’s life when he was on the road to Damascus.

The effect on me was electric. It suddenly dawned on me that Saul (later Paul) had encountered Someone Real. Having listened well in school and church, I knew exactly Who Saul met. I also knew the effect that his encounter with Jesus Christ had had on him – he was completely transformed!

Something lit up inside me. If Saul had changed – radically changed – on that road and with that vision, it stood to reason that Saul had met the actual, physical, risen Jesus! I knew that no one’s life had ever been changed by ghostly encounters; instead, one wants to forget such encounters as quickly as possible! So I worked my way back to the Resurrection – I realized that it had actually happened! That meant that Jesus had defeated death! It also meant that Jesus was the Savior of the world!!!!!

About the time I had worked this out in my mind, it was time to go pick up Allen from work (we only had one car, and I had needed it that day to run errands). He was on the evening shift, so this was about 11 p.m. As soon as Allen got into the passenger seat, I began to relate to him my amazing discovery. I vividly remember him asking me, “What’s in the fridge?” He didn’t seem interested in what I had to say, but I kept going on and on about how excited I was.

The 3rd and final part will be posted next.

Which Direction Does Hatred Take?

There are people in our country whose sole public persona is one of hatred and outrage. Journalists (you’ve read the news lately, haven’t you?) are full of hatred toward duly-elected officials. Violent demonstrators display outrage at the proverbial “drop of a pin” – and their outrage is aimed at the current president. Women “hate” men (which has never made sense to me, since I live with one of the most adorable men in this entire world!). There is a mistaken notion that people are “entitled” to hate, speak rudely to conservatives, Christians, or anyone else who disagrees with their opinion, and express outrage violently. The primary issue is: Where does all this hate lead the hater?

People who harbor hate in their hearts and minds – whether it is political, religious, or the “social justice” type – often insinuate that there can be a resolution to their hatred, if only things go their way. 

Here’s a summary of their thinking:

·         Something in life has not gone my way.

·         I am unhappy.

·         I need to make other people unhappy, too.

·         If I capture the ‘moral high ground’ – at least verbally – I can make people change their actions to suit me.

·         Gosh! That doesn’t happen!

·         [Repeat original theory / actions.]

Result? Zero change. Zero progress. Zero peace.

If there’s one thing that modern medicine has demonstrated beyond question, it is this: Hatred leads to a destroyed immune system; peace leads to health and – ultimately – happiness.

The obvious choice, therefore, is to choose true peace. But – surprise, surprise! – that is not what so many people choose! Let me offer my own theory as to why this is true:

Life starts with God. It ends with God. In between birth and death, God is in total control of everything. This is true, because God exists, and God – by definition – is more powerful than any individual or group that exists on this earth. People’s denial of God’s existence does not affect God one bit. I can deny that a person (who can plainly be seen by my eyes) exists, but that does not affect the truth of that person’s existence. So it is with God. Saint Paul wrote: “Ever since the creation of the world, His eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things He has made. So they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20). In other words, the fact of the existence of our Creator is as plain as the noses on our faces.

But people choose to either deny God’s existence, or to act as though He has no claim on what we do. (Are you one of them? PLEASE don’t stop reading!) What then? How is one to maintain a peaceful existence when an all-powerful, merciful, just, and holy Being is “eliminated” from consideration? We are left with only two alternatives:

      1. We abandon all human interaction (including wife, family, and friends) and live on an island. That assumes, of course, that we have enough money, a boat (to fetch groceries and such) and a sufficient level of comfort to allow us to live “peacefully.” (I don’t know how one persuades a repairman to appear on your island, when all of his / her tools are inside his truck on the mainland.)  OR

      2. We “rage, rage against the dying of the light,” according to poet Dylan Thomas. First, of course, we have to define what that “light” is. As I’ve already hinted, some people insist that they have the exclusive right to define the “light” – without reference to God, of course.

Remember that, according to these people, “light” is relative. It can refer to the sun, the moon, a lightbulb, or a bonfire. So the things that that light touches can also be relative – laws, morality, “reproductive health” (a euphemism for abortion), and so on… And so the anger. These people hate what they cannot control.

However, as I’ve previously hinted, this hatred leads to unhappiness. There is no outlet for hatred except to destroy the thing it hates. It is a never-ending cycle of destruction. Period.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ gave us a way out. He taught us how to defeat hate and live in peace. It is through His sacrifice on the cross that we find the only way through hatred.

Jesus of Nazareth began His last day of human life tied up like a criminal, beaten, spat on, and accused of blasphemy. Did He hate? No. He spoke truth – and got beaten and scourged for it.

When the bleeding and bruised Jesus of Nazareth was nailed to that cross on Calvary, He cried out – for all to hear – “Father, forgive them, for they are clueless about what they are doing.” Was this hatred?

When the beaten and humiliated Son of Man hung with unimaginable pain, He asked His disciple John to shelter His beloved and loyal mother. That woman and that man, standing together at the foot of the cross, stood every chance of being arrested and hoisted onto a similar execution platform in the future. But they stood there, and Jesus spoke. Haters often hate even their family members in the middle of their trials, but Jesus did not.

When Jesus of Nazareth cried out for just one drop of water, a “hater” gave him vinegar. Vinegar did nothing for His thirst, except to exacerbate it. Notice He didn’t curse the Vinegar Soldier.

The thought of death controls haters. Death is not welcome; death is the Ultimate Enemy. But Jesus embraced His death, because it meant that He had conquered death. “Father, into Thy hands I commit my Spirit.” Done. Finished. Hatred was conquered.

And then there was Resurrection Day. Hallelujah!

Where was God this past Election Day? Right where He has always been: in the center of the universe. In the center of control. In the center of knowledge. Are some people unhappy about the election results? Are some – even now – reacting with hatred towards those who “won”? Yes. They might be near you – or they might even be YOU. Do you want to abide in hate? 

I don’t. 

I want to abide in Jesus Christ, King of Peace. Join me.