The
Separation Gap
10/27/13
The
human race has a production line of division that becomes widened with each
generation. Each new generation of individuals has their own ideas
about how they wish to live, work and worship and each view can have individual
drastic effect upon each one as well. Many of us do not realize that
while we are supposedly progressing with humanity we are creating a separation
between our forefathers and ourselves. It is this separation gap
that many times causes division within families that prove to never heal. It
is even more important that we understand that there is a huge dark gap that
separates us from God and until we understand the bridge that crosses that gap,
our lives are doomed for destruction.
Many
years ago my father was going to become an engineer. He has the
perfect mathematical mind that no doubt would have brought him a tremendous
career in some specific type of engineering. Being an engineer was
basically all dad ever wanted to be while he was growing up, and that was
evident from the classes that he took in high school and then during the
beginning semesters of college. He was well on his way to becoming
an engineer when God called him to become a minister. Dad was
familiar with the ministry since his father had been a minister for many years,
but up until God called him to preach dad really had no desire for this line of
work.
God
gave dad a vision one night in the form of a dream. I cannot
describe the intricate details of the dream but I am going to try and do my
best to give some of the story in order to lay the foundation for this
article. The dream has stuck with dad all of these years and he even
talks about it to this day. It is a moment in his life that changed
him forever and he has never been the same since. Quite a change
from being an engineer to a minister, but God does work in mysterious ways for
the good of man.
In
dad’s dream he was standing on a hillside. He noticed that there were
many people running by him and reaching the top of the hill and then
disappearing. Dad also noticed that a huge cross was placed at the
top of the hill but the people were ignoring it and just disappearing as soon
as they passed the cross. As dad began to walk up the hill he
noticed that as soon that the people reached the top that they actually
disappeared which as soon as he reached the top he looked beyond the cross and
realized that after the cross was a large cliff that led downward. He
continued to watch many people reach this point of the hill and just simply
continue their running right over the edge. He then asked God why are
these people just running off the cliff, why do they just stop, don’t they know
what is happening? That is when God spoke to him and told him that
telling people about Him was going to be dad’s job.
This
dream broke dad’s heart and at the same time it set a fire within his spirit to
let as many people know about God and about the blood of Jesus that he possibly
could. I know that dad struggled with moving us around a lot but I
have no regrets whatsoever about the decisions that mom and he made during his
ministry years. All dad wanted to do was to tell the world about God
and that there was a way of escape from sure spiritual and eternal death. I
have many fond memories from my traveling days with my parents and I have been
richly blessed through their ministry.
I
know that technically I am not a preacher but God has chosen me to write things
that are along the same lines as my father’s dream. I did not
understand or comprehend this concept until this morning, 25 October 2013, as I
was walking across the now famous hospital parking lot that I grace each
day. My writings have been based upon numerous topics and to be
honest God has really blown my mind with some of the topics that He wishes me
to write for you. I do not question these topics I just do what I am
asked but know that I have been given many topics and have been shown numerous
things to write about so I have a feeling that I am not going to retire from
writing any time soon. God is in control and I just transcribe what
He has said to me.
If
you have read any of my past articles you will know that there some out there
that deal with the life of Christ and what His life represents to us. I
have started a series called the Covered Bridge and it is this concept that God
has shown me some details about Christ’s life that has blown me into
pieces. I am not going to deal with these specifics in this article
but I do wish to address the gap that man voluntarily created and to try and
place it into perspective with another demonstration and how Christ is the only
way for us to cross this gap to God.
As I
was walking across the parking lot this morning I was beginning the trek up the
ambulance slope to its emergency loading area. Now it has been
summer time here and up until a few weeks ago there had been no cold weather
present in this area. However, the gravel that the maintenance crew
had used last winter to keep the ambulances from sliding down the ambulance
ramp had still been present. I had passed this scene many times and
had looked at all of the gravel and the patterns that it made many times over
the summer, but had not made any connection. Seems kind of weird eh,
why would anyone be looking at gravel for patterns. J
On
my second trip across the ambulance ramp I took notice once again of the gravel
that I was about to step on. I noticed a unique pattern of part of
the gravel and I immediately remembered that I had noticed this pattern for
some time but really had never “noticed” it before. What is amazing
is that I had noticed this pattern before the summer actually began. Now,
you might not think that I was paying attention too much about the path that I
took but what one should know is that from June till October I was not working
in my normal position, I was working in the main lab and did not make this walk
every day.
I
have included a picture of the pattern that I saw this morning at the beginning
of the article and you can refer to it as you read along if need be. Anyway,
as I passed by the gravel I thought to myself that the pattern formed was weird
and how there was a gap that formed curved lines in the middle of the
pattern. On one side of the pattern were placed many gravel bits and
they seemed to line up and crowd up to each other until they reached an
imaginary line and ten stopped. On the other side of the gap was the
same appearance of gravel basically in the same formation.
The
gap in between the two sides of gravel collections was convoluted and twisted
in form and ran the length of the pattern or shape of the formation. What
I found interesting about the gap was that it was clear there and if you look
at the picture above you will notice that all along the gap there is not one
bit of gravel within the gap. It is a complete separation from the
two sides and there is nothing that links the two sides as well. It
is a complete and total separation and unless I, someone else or some other
vehicle comes along to close this gap it shall remain in this condition.
I
refer you back to my father’s dream and when he was looking over the side of
the cliff and watching people just run over the edge and not stop. If
you picture this scene you will notice that if dad turned and looked back
behind him at the people running or walking up the hill that they would be
scattered abroad and not really grouped tightly together until the edge of the
cliff approached. This represents people coming from many directions
and coming together as their time ends. Look at my picture and you
will see the same thing on the one side of the gravel.
Dad
mentioned that he saw these people running over the cliff and just falling
without any way possible of stopping them after they had ran off the
cliff. In other words he could no longer see them after they had
made the decision to complete their journey, or in laymen’s terms they
physically died. This represents the gap that man decided to create
for ourselves when we chose to ignore God’s law in the Garden of Eden and do
things on our won. And as far as we can see down and across there is
absolutely nothing that life represents in that gap.
The
cross stood tall and strong at the top of the hillside where dad and God
conversed and where the many people ran by as they fell off the cliff. I
have no idea what dad and God actually said to each other but I do know that
God did reaffirm in dad’s dream that the cross was the only way that people
could be stopped from running over the edge of the cliff with the result of
certain death. I do not know if dad thought about the cross and what
occurred on that cross as a bridge across that gap but I do know that as time
has passed in my life dad has referred to the cross as a type of bridge; plus
the Bible gives us a detailed example of this with the ripping of the veil as
Jesus died.
Returning
back to the gravel, on the other side of the gap is another “gathering” of
gravel and then as you continue to view the pattern towards the right you will
notice that the gravel once again spreads out like it is being thinned or
dispersed as you look further to the right. I find this very interesting
that once the gap has been overcome there is life on the other side of the
gap. There is life on the previously mentioned side of the gap as
well, but nothing inside the gap. That gap was created by man and
thus it cannot be bridged by man no matter how hard one tries. You
also notice that the cross stands on the first side of the gap and not on the
other which means that God has provided a true way of crossing that gap and
even though the cross is tall and can be seen from a distance it has been
strategically placed as a last resort if one chooses to get to that point in
their lives.
Whatever
takes place while people are in the gap, no one alive knows. I do
know that I have done some pretty stupid things in my life and even though I am
a human and deserve nothing from God or the rewards that He has in store for
me, I do not ever want to compromise my position in Christ the day that my life
finds that gap and I cross over to the presence of God. I have no
clue how eternity works or living in a spirit flesh life but I do know that
there is a way that I can live eternally with God and not ever have to worry
about an enemy ever again, and it is through the cross and what occurred on
that cross that gives me this assurance.
The
other side of the gap represents the lives that are in heaven and are with
God. It would be logical for a number of lives to be at the edge of
the other side of this gap after they have been transformed into eternal
beings. It also demonstrates that actual life is present in heaven
because the gravel is dispersing which means that they no longer care to stay at
the edge of the gap and they will continue their journey in life as it was
meant for us to do. So, to answer a few questions about a certain
issue concerning heaven, it does not look like we will be floating around with
wings with a harp and doing nothing but playing music for each other, we will
be alive and able to do things. Sadly however, that means that those who
do not choose eternal life with God will also be alive but somewhere in that
gap that we created, totally separated from God; remember there is always two
sides to every story.
It
is the bridge that God has shown me to write about and if one reads all of my
past articles they will understand this pattern that God has given to me. There
is no way that I am trying to upstage my father’s dream for it is a gift from
God to him and it is a mission that was born within my father many years
ago. But during a conversation that my parents and I had a few
months ago, I believe now that mom and dad can see where my ministry is
headed. It is not an upstage of my father but an extension of his
ministry that God began in his spirit a long time ago. It may never
be from behind a pulpit but the words that God has shown me and the message
that He has given me to share with as many people as possible, is the exact
same as what He showed my father.
I
have no doubt that my father heard the voice of God in that dream for the same
message has been given to a dirt bag of a human being which would be me. I
still have trouble contemplating what God sees in me that would deem me worthy
of telling His message to others, but for whatever reason God has chosen me to
carry on His words of hope, love and life to a world that is desperate need of
Him. There is no doubt that God has defined His ministry in me through
the written word and it is those words that He has given me to give to a world
that is literally falling off a cliff, is the continuation of the ministry that
God gave to you both. I love you mom and
dad with all of my heart and I thank you every day for your influence in my
life, you did a job well done!!
DLB
No comments:
Post a Comment