Author; Poet; Parent; USAF; child of THE Father. Life is for living, I'm living my last days, maybe months, but there's suppose to be no more birthdays and I was told to not renew my News Week subscription. But thats okay, because I have today.Web: christianarticlesandwallpaper.com
BIOI love my life, I have always loved my life, even when things were awful. I love it all my home, my friends and family, the countryside, the city, the children I have known, playing in the snow, puppies, kittens, the noise of construction, the smell of a newly plowed field. I love everything about it! But, I know Im not going to have it much longer. Im not complaining mind you, I do love life but I clearly see its eternal link as did the Apostle Paul when he said having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better, but to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. (Philippians 1:23,24). I first saw this eternal link on November 16, 1973 when I became His child. I know that this eternal connection is not in the passing pleasures of material possessions, the things we buy, the meals we eat, the clothes we wear. I have experienced the eternal connection in the love I have known from parents, my wife, family and friends; the beauty I have experienced not just in creation, but in the hearts of others; and the truths I have discovered, especially in His Word! Love, truth and beauty do not share the decay that condemns all earthly things. The truth in a great book is not tied to the paper its written on. The beauty of a song or symphony doesnt vanish when the instruments are packed away; and the love of another doesnt die when their (or our) mortal remains are laid away. These are links that bind us to the eternal. After the creation, God look at the work he had done, and behold, it was very good. We are meant to savor to the full the good things God has given us. One of the best inscriptions on a gravestone that I ever heard of is found in Denmark. It consisted of these words: Tak for Alt Thanks for everything! Isnt that the right note on which to cross the Great Divide?
We are meant to enjoy the creation, the life we have been given, but we are also meant to remember, Im not going to have it much longer. A lot of people dont like to bring these two thoughts together, that life is good, and that one day, any day, its going to end. People concentrate on the enjoyment of what life has to offer, and they drive the knowledge of its being temporary out of mind. But even those know that the end of all life is death. But, for those who link this life and that which is to come, they live their days in preparation. 1 John 5:2 says, And this is the record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Eternal life is something that we possess here and now, if we are believers. Right here and now, in the middle of this world of everyday, this life that, with all its problems and heartache, we enjoy so much right here and now another world is pressing in on us, the world of God. To be awake to the world of God while living in the world of men brings peace and joy when we near the end of this life. We can experience our daily life, not just in the dull dimensions of time and space, but with a vision of eternity. Those who live their life in the Son seek stronger ties in this life to be with him in the next. We pray and worship alone and as a family of believers. We see that God is alive and at work in His world and he has made this physical world the vehicle of His grace. When we live life in the Son, we see that world meeting us in the everyday of this world. When we find the supreme secret of the Christian life, we realize that God Himself, the eternal God, our Creator, has made the supreme and final link between our life and His. The life, the death, the resurrection of Jesus, my Lord! This is the divine life, the eternal life, breaking into the world of men. God comes as a man to men, the eternal stoops to the temporary, the holy to the human, the spiritual to the material, and reaches down to the last frightful condition and final calamity of death, in order that we might be lifted up to Him in life eternal. His Son entered our world, died for my sins, and rose again to lift me up to God, cleansed, purified, and forgiven. He is the supreme link here and now to the eternal.
In the words of His last great prayer, This is life eternal, that they may know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent. To know him now is to know Him then, when this mortal heart has ceased to beat and our eyes open to another, richer world. To reject Him now is to reject Him then. Of all the links that must now be strengthened, this is the most vital. What if today were the worlds last night, would you have the image of Christ crucified engraved in your minds eye, knowing that it was for you he died. There is no other one that can bestow upon us the assurance of eternity! But, that begins here and now and passes on beyond into the fullness of that life to come. Only in Him will the divine compassion meet us now, in this life, and will meet us then, when we have lived our last day in this world and arrive on our first day in that life to come. Someone wrote, He is the captain of my ship. Always there to pick me up, when I fall on bended knees, He is the captain of my ship as I sail across the seas. I am standing at the oceans edge.
A ship in an inlet spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and sails out into the blue ocean. She's an object of beauty and strength, and I stand and watch her sail away until she looks like a speck of white cloud just where the ocean and sky come down to meet each other. Then someone at my side says, There, shes gone. But, gone where? Gone from sight, thats all. She is just as large in mast and hull as when she left my side, and just as able to carry her load of whatever she may haul to her destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And, just at the moment when someone beside me says, There, shes gone, on that distant shore there are other eyes watching for her arrival and voices ready to take up the glad shout,Here she comes, and such is dying. As we arrive on that distant shore the crowd will be watching and waiting, and as we step off the ship, one will step forward, extending those nail pierced hands for a handshake or a hug, and the words, well done good and faithful servant! Enter ye in, and oh, by the way, welcome home!
What a great life this has been, and is. Steve Armstrong
Comments (10)
roadrunner69
Steve .... thank you .... PEACE .... brian.
Mojomatrix
This man has seen horrors that none of us can imagine. And he is also an honorable man. With the current photo's of Iraqi POW's be tortured, this image is a reminder that 99.9 percent of American soldiers are kind, decent and caring people.
adm5050
Ya know it hurts when I see young people going through this for me. Enough said!!
sugashak
Thankful he knows God in the Great Babylon of Old,somewhere close to where the Garden was in GENISIS,at the mouth of the the three river's,The Tigress,Euphartis,and one I do not know.But while a war is going on the thought's of long ago must be Humbling.
madmaxh
No offense, DENCOUCH, but you show an appalling ignorance of history and culture. We should honor our soldiers by bringing them home from this war waged by corporations on civilians. Forcing an alien culture at gunpoint on a sovereign people will end as all crusades end -- in defeat and disgrace. That said, this is still a compelling picture.
DENCOUCH
Thank you for sharing. It is a truism that some of us take a complex situation & dumb it down to their level of understanding. Bravo to you.
I am quite comfortable in stating that my knowledge of History & Culture stands on its own merit, & I am sorry that you choose to be ignorant of this.
"tu parle plus haut que ton trou."
The French have a flare of their very own, don't they?
stevermstrong
No offense, madmaxh, and I wouldn't be so rude as to say you show an appalling ignorance of anything but you for sure show a lack of understand of what you call a war waged by corporations on civilians and that we should honor our soldiers by bringing them home. What a disgrace that would be, for our soldiers and the freedom that you have everyday. If every American was required to live in one of those alien cultures (which I did) for a year, they would have a better appreciation of why we are there, and why you have the freedom to say anything your heart desires without being killed or jailed. As one who has fought in an unpopular war, and as one currently dying from a Service connected disability, and as one who knows that standing for freedom and morality is the only thing an honorable man can do, myself and thousands of others like me would do it again "today" if given the chance. And, those rare "civilians" who fire on armed, uniformed, soldiers that are there for the countries benefit, are not called civilians, they are called terrorist, or just plain ignorant. Thank the God of Heaven that the majority of the men of America are willing to fight for any "just, honorable, and moral cause" and don't whimp out.
jocko500
well say stevermstrong both in the image you made and in the comments true words
pscott
Beautiful words and a wonderful image. Very moving. This is an incredible post.
loswl_
You speak well, with personal conviction, and that truly comes through..Its closer and more realistic if one has been associated with the battle ground..both physically and spiritually.