Three Final Choices

Posted on by Fred D

Hiking through the Great Smoky Mountains I wandered upon an old cemetery. Treading in a hush of reverent silence, I carefully meandered among the grave-sites reading tombstone inscriptions. Three thoughts surfaced . . . no pun intended 😊

Old Elkmont Cemetery
  1. The uncertainty and brevity of life – several tombstones marked the graves of infants, who left and returned to Heaven the same day.
Infant Tombstone

2. ‘Have and Have Not’ disparities remain until death – among those tombstones artfully engraved with poignant parting thoughts were those marked with simple, anonymous stones.

Tombstones

3. After eight decades, I’m forever grateful to still be able to fog a mirror – odds on, I’ll be taking up residence with this quiet congregation sooner than most still above ground.

The World Economic Forum reports the gap between the wealthiest and the poorest in society has grown during the pandemic and continues to widen.

  1. For 99% of the global population, incomes have fallen and over 160 million more people have been forced into poverty.
  2. This inequality is contributing to the death of at least 21,000 people a day. Every four seconds one of the inhabitants we share this planet with perishes through hunger, lack of potable water, lack of access to life-saving healthcare, and other basic life needs. 
  3. Since 1995, the top 1% have captured nearly 20 times more of global wealth than the bottom 50 % of humanity.

Few reside in the rare stratosphere of the 1% . . . if you do, please call me . . . Collect! 😊. However, few of us can recall the last time we were truly hungry; parched for a sip of clean water; without access to health care; homeless without shelter, etc., etc., etc. Bottom line . . . as Americans we are richly and undeservedly blessed!

Someday this world’s playing field will be leveled, no more disparities, and we will all face the final quintessential disparity . . . Heaven or Hell. Our Creator has graciously narrowed Eternity’s destiny to 1 of 3 final choices each of us must make, no abstentions allowed:

  1. Accept
  2. Reject
  3. Ignore

Jesus

“Salvation is found in no one else. for there is no other name under Heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved”. –  Acts 4:12

My prayer remains we’ll share Heaven together with Him.

Keep Looking Up . . . His best is yet to come!

Mind-Boggling Travel

Posted on by Fred D

Cloudy Day in the Great Smoky Mountains

Last week, some 5,000 miles north-by-northwest, found me gliding through freshly fallen snow. Shortly thereafter, some 35,000 ft. above terra-firma, found me zooming through the skies at 600 mph in high-speed-aluminum tubing. This afternoon, some 2,000 ft. up in the Great Smoky Mountains, found me shuffling through fall’s fallen leaves . . .  fictional Star Trek travel fantasy a mere century ago.

Walking on the moon is old history. Today, there are people are living above the earth in a high-tech mini-condo, and some everyday citizens (admittedly wealthy ones 😊) are taking short jaunts into space for a quick, high-altitude adrenaline rush.

As mind-boggling as  today’s travel would have been to Lewis and Clark trudging through the wilderness in the early 1800s, imagine the travel future our children will experience … living on the moon … up close and personal exploration of  our solar system’s other planets … traveling the expanses the Milky Way … ???

Yet, each of us has already accomplished 2 of the 3 legs of the most mind-boggling travel journey of all … Heaven to Earth. The last leg of the journey remains to travel, and has but one of two final, forever destinations . . . the choice is ours alone to decide.

It was already accomplished some 2,000 years ago, and multitudes have since followed:

“In My Father’s house there are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I, am you may be also.” – John 14:2-3

The third leg of our journey has been paid-in full for anyone who accepts the offer and trusts the One who has already made it. Mind-boggling? … For Sure! … Prove it! … Can’t! … that’s why it’s called Faith. Hope to see you there someday.

Keep Looking Up . . . His best is yet to come! . . . Mind-Boggling!

Life’s Seasons

Posted on by Fred D

Winter Invades Fall

This after-the-storm picture of Winter invading Fall had me contemplating my mortality. From first to final breath, much like the changing of the seasons, life is a continuum of seasons.

The Spring of my life witnessed a carefree childhood morph into an adolescence of uncertainty and tentative teens before yielding to the Summer of adulthood, running the gamut of experiences and emotions from gain to loss; joy to sorrow; trial to triumph; happiness to heartbreak. Fall followed suit, but with slightly more intensity, enhanced by increased awareness of both life’s responsibly and appreciation.

Gazing on this scene today, I realized, albeit somewhat reluctantly, my life’s journey has entered Winter. Spanning nearly eight decades, my journey lies somewhere below life’s summit in Winter’s snows, above Fall’s fading colors. Given the genre of my life’s journey, I suspect my current location resides in that fog below the mountain’s summit 😊

Regrets?  . . . many, most self-attributable.  Blessings? . . . many more, attributable to God’s unfathomable Grace alone. And so, I gratefully journey on towards the summit, uncertain of my arrival time, but assured of a forever room at the top is waiting for me . . . Hope to see you there.

“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you.” John 14:2

Wildflower Reminiscing

Posted on by Fred D

Woodland wanderings always envelop my soul with an inexplicable, comforting . . . I’m Home . . . peace. Perhaps it’s because this world is not my final home, and His creation reveals glimpses of my final forever Home.

In nearly 8 decades life’s journey has found me calling 8 states home . . . PA > NY > NC > CT > VT > MN > CO > AK > TN  > ??? . . . stay tuned 😊. Admittedly, I’m a nomadic gypsy of sorts.  However, in each ‘home’ I’ve been truly blessed to experience and enjoy the unique beauty and diversity of each area’s environment and its people.

Such were my thoughts along the trail yesterday, reminiscing about the beauty and joy of diversity of this world and humanity silently whispered by the glorious, distinctive blooms of Pennsylvania’s mountain laurels, Minnesota’s lady slippers, and Tennessee’s irises.

Headed for Home and richly blessed . . . May U B 2.