Surrender

"OK, I give up!" 

"Hand over your weapons." 

Yield (road construction).

These commands all evoke scenes from a TV western, cop show or a vacation trip. It appears that agreeing to obey these phrases mean that the battle has been lost or someone's rights have been taken away.

We in America learn very early that we should be independent. Isn’t the truism “God helps those who help themselves” in the Bible?.(Nope, I think that saying came from Ben Franklin.) Consequently, “surrender” almost seems to be un-American.

One day this week, songs from the previous Sunday’s worship service kept cycling through my mind—particularly the ones about surrender. So, I decided the word would make an interesting topic to explore.

With respect to surrendering to God, the ultimate reality means to hand over the “reins” of your life to Christ, saying, “I trust You to guide me in the best direction, to make the best decisions, and to form or nurture the right relationships."

However, our Lord is also the ultimate Gentleman. He always gives us a choice, so we are free to take back the “reins” of our life if that is what we want—or not even hand them over in the first place. Then the not-so-smart decisions are made and as a result, we can either fall into the “Slough of Despond” or learn a life-lesson from our disastrous take-charge attitude, once again surrendering the reins of our life to the One Who knows best—and will never steer us wrong.

Surrender definitely has a component of vulnerability. That lends a negative aspect to it when it comes to us on a plain other that our relationship with Christ.  Actually though, I think He wants us to be vulnerable with Him, or perhaps transparent is a better word. 

At any rate, in spite of the negative connotation to the word, surrender, I have discovered that surrendering to my Creator is the very opposite of losing the battle. This type of surrender actually grants freedom—freedom from worry and stress, freedom from yielding (surrendering) to sin, itself. Paul says this so well in Romans 8:2, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has made me free from the law of sin and death.”

This blog post seems unfinished but it may be because surrender in the spiritual life seems never to be a “done deal.” As someone wrote regarding believers being living sacrifices to God, “the sacrifice keeps crawling off the altar.” In that respect, surrender must be a continuing attitude/mind-set until we get it perfect. By that time, we will be in Heaven:).

As usual, I would welcome any comments pro or con from readers--so thanks for reading to the end

Time Travel

I’m guessing there’s a certain strange tweak in the psyche of those of us fascinated by the idea of time travel. For some, it may be the idea of possibly going back and changing history (which could be sort of an oxymoron) or some other esoteric reason.

My imagination is fueled by the idea of such travel, whether it be forward—which probably fits into the science fiction realm—or backward, which my interest leans toward. I wonder: what exactly did they (the people) wear? What did they eat and how did they cook it? What sort of emotions did they have and how did they express them? What was their health like and how did they treat sickness, broken bones, burns, etc.? What did their homes look like and how were they furnished?

We know some of the answers to these questions, depending on how far back we research and depending on written records of varying sorts. But without imagination the people of those times—whatever historical era we’re interested in—cannot come alive to us.

Recently, I have enjoyed reading Randy Ingermanson’s first book in his trilogy “City of God”. With his background as a physicist,  his main characters travel back in time through a “wormhole” with ample scientific jargon to impress this reader who is totally lacking in any physics background.  Interestingly enough, Ingermanson's time travelers are aimed specifically for the first century AD. (You'll have to read the book to find out why.)

Diane Gabaldon, on the other hand, sends her time travelers through certain large rocks, I’ll call them “standing stones” for lack of a better term—like on a smaller order of Stonehenge. They also have to travel at specific times of the year. Her Outlander books are totally captivating and the time transport quite believable—if you have an active imagination.  However, her characters can never be sure what historical era they may end up in.

The Outlander (her first book in the series) has now been made into a TV show broadcast on Starz  and the first installment was available to watch on FaceBook, which I did. I thought it stayed true to the book and because of the history of Culloden and beyond (the 1700s) which is where Gabaldon sent her heroine, the series could continue on for several seasons if the show makes adequate money for the producers.

If any of you readers have favorite time travel authors/books/movies, please share with us. I have seen some time travel movies on the Hallmark channel and remember at least one story back when I was reading Readers Digest Condensed Book. But I don’t know of any authors of that ilk that have made names for themselves in the genre of time travel (other than the ones mentioned above) so I look forward to hearing from you.

The Last Time

“The last time I saw Paris her heart was young and gay. I heard the laughter of her heart…”

I’ve never been to Paris, France so the city itself means no more than an item of geography to me. However, I’ writing this post as a memoriam to my husband and when the idea first came to me, these lyrics were the next thing to enter my brain.

Dean went to sleep in his recliner in Elko, NV and woke up in Heaven. What a trip! As beautifully as the songwriter pictures Paris, the Bible’s picture of Heaven is much more glorious.

As the days have progressed since Dean left this planet, there have been many memories of “the last time” we did this or travelled there, etc. Even the trip to Salt Lake City and points east to Wyoming where we buried Dean’s ashes beside his folks was a reminder of “the last time” because we were together the last time I was on that portion of I-80.  In fact, for a while, anywhere I travel from Elko will be a reminder of  "the last time”.

It’s a no-brainer that birthdays, holidays and anniversaries of varying sorts will also dredge up memories of “the last time.” Those memories may bring nostalgic tears but that’s OK because they were celebrations of  joyous times, a time marker experienced together.

As I have thought about the various “last times” with Dean, the only regret I have in some cases is the fact that I didn’t know it was the last time. Life is that way and I don’t doubt that it’s a good thing when we have no inkling a shared experience is the “last time.”

Therefore, I would advise my friends and family members, as well as myself: Totally enjoy each of those together times and never take them for granted. Quoting a portion of Sarah Young’s devotional for August 13 in Jesus Calling, she urges her readers to “walk through [your] day with child-like delight, savoring every blessing.”

“The last time I saw Paris her heart was young and gay. No matter how they change her I’ll remember her that way.”

So my Sweet Babboo, whenever I experience something that makes me think of “the last time”, I’ll remember you the way you were then—and know I was blessed.