LINKS

From Permanent to Temporary -- In 36 Hours

For over 50 years I have discussed how fleeting life is.  I have talked about how insecure the seemingly secure is.  I have declared how impermanent the permanent is.  I have elaborated on how uncertain the certain is.  I have observed how instantly our definite plans change.  I have even discussed how quickly our perception of reality changes.

I was confident that I knew what I was talking about.  There was serious sickness with little medicine.  There were foreign borders with clear cut strips of land and barbed wire in the middle of nothingness guarded by men who never heard of Jesus or his principles.  There were encounters with officials on “their turf” who despised our presence.  There were encounters with forces beyond my ability to fathom or explain.  There were authority figures that knew nothing about Jehovah or His son, and regarded us as intruders.  A combination of faith and naiveté (perhaps more naiveté) placed me in numerous circumstances.

Then I lay for 24 hours TOTALLY physically helpless remembering little, and do not know if those “memories” actually happened.  For 24 hours I was totally dependent.  I experienced entirely different concepts of dependence and helplessness.  Physical permanence achieved a whole new level of understanding-- physical impermanence is real!

Now awareness of dependence on God reaches a new level.  Understanding of how temporary physical existence is rises to a new place.  The feeling of being physically temporary is invigorating.  Awareness of what God does for us in Christ is amazing!  The blessing is not in what we do for God, but what He does for us!

David Chadwell
Jan. 30, 2012  *  Fort Smith, AR