Preface: The post below this Preface.....Three Views....was first posted on September 19 of 2009.....almost thirteen years ago....I was surprised to see that in it I mentioned...."possible pandemics." I posted something with a similar title back in 2013....I Led Three Lives. It came from a popular television show in the mid-50s of the same title....where the narrator was an FBI agent....and also an infiltrator into communist groups in America. In that post....concerning the first of three parts of my life....I described it this way...My youth was normal in many ways. Sports, girls and beer occupied the majority of my free time. I wore God on a chain around my neck. I was an avid reader with the intent of expanding my intellect but the only thing that grew was my ego. The second part of my life I described this way...."I led the life of an evangelical in my middle years. I was born again....born anew....from above....and I desired to tell as many people as possible of a merciful savior, the wonders of the Bible, and the majesties of Jesus Christ. I led the life of a pilgrim....had left the city of destruction....fell face first in the slough of despond....entered through a wicket gate....had my burden fall off at the foot of the cross on Calvary....ran into Giant Despair a few times....stumbled and took wrong turns at times....and lived and worked in Vanity Fair....but could not see the Celestial City nor even the river before it." This life that I live now is the third of three lives....and I described it this way back in 2013...."I see that river today and can faintly hear the rejoicing emanating from the beautiful city beyond the river....this simply because the more one walks toward the light.... the less one hears the barkers and minstrels of Vanity Fair." I would update this by saying that not only is the Celestial City within view....and the joyful praises from within it ringing loudly in my ears....but as Billy Graham once described it....I can almost hear the hoofbeats of the approaching four horses of Revelation Six. The following post from 2009 is different in that it describes three views of life....in the present.
Three Views....September 19, 2009
This is a personal reflection on three arenas where I tend to view life in America. Maybe it will resonate with you....maybe not. The first of these views is as when I walk the neighborhoods or the Main Streets of small towns. Picture a lovely day, maybe 72 degrees with a slight breeze and the leaves gently rustling above. The smells are clean, as least as we have come to know clean. Maybe there is the scent of lilacs as I pass a garden or maybe just freshly cut grass. I pass another person walking and say hello, or see others puttering in their yard. A few cars pass and I detect a look of content or even a smile as they are talking on a cell phone. There is practically no noise save the purr of tires turning on pavement at only about 20 miles per hour. Possibly there is the sound of a lawnmower in the distance that disturbs the quiet and if I'm fortunate there are the chirps and calls of various small birds. I admit, there is little stress to discern on a walk like this. Walking Main street is a little bit different for there is a measure of hustle and bustle as I see housewives doing their grocery shopping, older folks stopping at the pharmacy for their prescriptions, kids of various ages laughing as they munch on some snack that they to came to town for....and men simply doing errands.
The second way to view life today, or lens to look through if you will, is through the news in every imaginable medium available to us. There are no fragrances, no breezes, no birds and the only smiles are in pictures of politicians and other notables, but those smiles are not convincing, or soothing. In the news I see a major confrontation brewing in the Middle East, different from the continuous ones of the past for there is uncertainty in this one. I see the Russian bear stirring up strife as if they considered themselves immune from the consequences. I see a Red China growing in power and influence, both financial and military, through nefarious schemes from Africa to Europe and in the Americas north and south. I see a world financial community that proved in the last year that it is truly winging it, its confidence being a facade. I see nervous looks....on those who should know....of possible pandemics. The stark contrast between these two world views is vivid and almost surreal.
The third view is one that only a Christian can see. Every person that I meet is subject to my concern for their salvation. The grocer, crossing guard, the janitors at work, the older people walking so slowly, the kids speeding by on their bikes, the news anchor, the people who serve me my McDonald's breakfast every morning, celebrities who waste their lives and the lives of those infatuated with them, the Pittsburgh Penguin, the person who sings the songs I at times sing along with in the car, the mailman and the numerous people in news reports who have suffered some sort of tragedy that put them in the news. At work I'll sit and laugh with others over the amusing little things that we all share...all the while knowing that this is a human soul that will one day stand before a God of perfect love but also a God of perfect justice who has clearly told us that we must be born again....born from above....and to look to His Son....who was lifted up on a Cross....for our salvation.
Forty years ago today....(almost 53 years as I post this today)....I joined the United States Army at the Federal Building in Pittsburgh! Time passes quickly and in itself is a great mystery except in that it will never stop in its present form until we experience the vista of eternity. I am thankful for these views that I have for they are reassuring. That's right...reassuring....in that if it is clear enough to see the dangers then it is also clear enough to see the one that will see us through them. With great trepidation comes a knowledge of one who is greater! With the tears of a fallen world comes the joy in knowing Him who has overcome!
