Deterioration

Daybreak! The sun's golden rays beam over the eastern horizon.

Rising to a new day a thought also beamed through my mind: why not take a ride ‘round about those old familiar places; you have not done so in a while; see what they're like now; how have they changed, if they have.

Shortly beyond mid-morning, I did just that. I entered my car and headed out. Having lived in that city for several years (ah, maybe too long?), I knew my "whereabouts" (just about every nook and cranny), where I was going, cruising those familiar streets. I anticipated a walk through again a couple of shopping malls I hadn't been to in a while.

With the Passing of Time

Wow, was I impressed, or maybe depressed? It wasn't as I had remembered. The malls, once busily populated with shoppers. (Of course, it was early in the day and early in the week.) Nevertheless, those malls now were nearly half empty of stores; streets and sidewalks, too, as I'd noticed in driving about were in need of repair; fixtures along the highways weathered. (Understandably so, I guess, considering the passing of time.)

It being winter was not much help as well in impressing me with the "good things" of life —of what has been. Or, was it helpful after all in influencing me with the better things of God—what He had in store for me that day.

In a word, to describe it all, perhaps could be deterioration. Changes in process everywhere, not just in my city but all around the world, I'm sure. Stores move from one location to another, for more business—moving out of a lessened population, to where the crowds are.

Observing that day of what has been, the words of Jesus ran through my mind, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away," (Matthew 24:35; Luke 21:33).

Hence, in this time, I'm aware that nothing lasts forever, except people and the Word of God—the Good News proclaimed to the world to rescue people from the traps of this physical domain, the lures and deceptive snares of the evil one.

A Better Day Coming

Deterioration! But unlike what is to come in the last days, according to God's Word. But I can take heart, Jesus is "making all things new," no more deterioration, and better than "improvement": a whole new world.

But that day is yet to come— ah, oh glorious day, come. Until then, however, I can only attempt to imagine, as written in the Bible, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him," (1 Corinthians 2:9).

The Life Application Study Bible notes, "We cannot imagine all that God has in store for us, both in this life and for eternity. He will create a new heaven and new earth (Isaiah 65:17; Revelation 21: 1), and we will live with him forever."

Until then, perhaps many more trials and testings will come, and still further deterioration. And I'm sure there'll be a continued roaming about through this physical time. But, so journeying on, I must be careful not to give my days merely to worldly endeavors that have no real meaning and purpose. Nor let my attention focus on material wealth and possessions – jobs, career, profession; such is God’s provision for support laboring in the greater cause. (See Matthew 6:25-33.)

My wading through the murky, stagnant sea of this corrupt, dark, deteriorating world, I have realized a higher more purposeful ambition and call—rescuing people from the deterioration that is to come, that they may live their life anew in God's Kingdom of everlasting light, peace, and harmony.

Consider further What does it mean that heaven and earth will pass away?

Deterioration can also be read at Hub Pages.

All for the Love of a Cheese Twirl

A Sudden Urge

Suddenly it hit me – an urge for a doughnut, specifically a cheese twirl. Now really, I thought, I need a doughnut like a zebra needs stripes, an elephant a nose, or a giraffe a neck. Still, the urge was there. It was very real, and it wouldn’t go away no matter how hard I tried. Of course, I must confess, I didn’t try very hard. What’s even more maddening, I knew the whereabouts of a couple of doughnut shops nearby. Both were within easy walking distance. But only one of the two had cheese twirls, and wouldn’t you know it, it was the one farthest away.

Oh well, I’d hung around home all day anyway. The long walk would do me good. Some fresh air, you know, and a cheese twirl!

At last, I came to the end of my work. I quickly exited my small mobile home and stepped out briskly to begin my journey, all for the love of a cheese twirl. I did not know, however, God’s purpose for me taking a walk on that particular Saturday evening.

Not Exactly a Cheese Twirl

After about half a mile or so, I arrived at the doughnut shop. I spied the cheese twirls. But when I learned one cost 75 cents, my heart sunk. I didn’t bring that much money with me. So I had to settle for a chocolate bar instead (sigh).

Nevertheless, I purchased the chocolate bar and took my place at a table on the far side of the room and munched away. Mmm! The chocolate bar was good at that, even though it wasn’t a cheese twirl.

Shortly, my nose caught the odor of cigarette smoke wafting through the air. I turned in the direction of the smoke. A woman, sullen and downcast, was sitting at a table not far from me; her ashtray harvested cigarette butts. For a little while, neither of us spoke to one another, probably because neither of us knew one another. Then, too, I being of a quiet temperament, find conversation a somewhat difficult task.

Finally, she broke the silence between us. Dolefully she spoke, “Life sure is boring, isn’t it?”

A Fresh Urge

It was then my turn. “Well now, it all depends on who you know,” I said. “If you know Jesus,” I continued after a brief pause, “Life can be exciting.”

“Oh,” she responded, surprised.

I then asked her if she knew Jesus. She answered yes, to my surprise. She said she had come to know Him when she was about 15. But it was apparent that life’s circumstances had turned her heart sour, and she no longer experienced the joy of knowing Jesus personally.

As we continued our conversation I learned of her mother’s unexpected death two years before. A Bible with her very own name on it that her mother had given her was one of her most prized possessions. Though she had cherished it, in disgust one day after her mother’s death, she had torn it up. Now, however, she told me she wished she had not done so. She wished she still had the Bible her mother had given her.

Shortly, I left the doughnut shop. The woman thanked me for talking to her. I never did learn her name. Neither is it likely I’ll ever see her again, at least in this life. But I left her with a thought – Jesus.

As I exited the shop and started my journey home, I noticed darkness had already blanketed the sky. Suddenly a fresh urge hit me – not for chocolate bars this time or even cheese twirls, but for “food that endures to eternal life” (John 6:27, NIV.)