Ever wonder why you are alive? At 73 and having been dead twice already, the thought of why has crossed my mind several times. In the course of my life I have seen four plane crashes. Two of them were close enough I could feel the heat. One of them because I took a day off. I delivered a load of spices from Nevada on Tuesday, when I should have been there on Monday. It has definitely made me wonder if God is trying to tell me something. That Tuesday was September 11, 2001 and I was delivering in Bayonne, NJ. As I left my delivery site and moved east to the waterfront and then north to get to the Interstate to leave. I noticed lots of people standing around and looking east. As I looked I saw smoke pouring out of one of the twin towers. Pulling to the shoulder the sound of sirens pierced the cab of my truck.
Remembering the crash I saw in Evansville, IN on February 6,1992, I decided I needed to leave the area. Emergency vehicles would be gearing up to go help and they did not need people in the way. The Evansville crash was one where I was only a few hundred feet from when it hit the ground. I could feel the heat from the impact. The other crash I could feel the heat from was an F4 Phantom at Cam Ranh Bay, in Vietnam. His landing gear hit in the gravel a few feet short of the runway and a fireball rolled down the runway. Later we learned the pilot was flying blind because he had been shot and another pilot had been trying to talk him onto the runway. The fourth plane crashed into the Days Inn near the Indianapolis airport. I was only a few blocks away unloading.
So what does all that have to do with why I am alive. If you read my testimony it will explain some of the issues and why I feel so Blessed to just be alive. A couple weeks ago my youngest grandson Isaiah stopped by. He was on his way home from spending the week working at the local Bible camp. I always enjoy any time I get to spend with any of my grand-children. We have seven and two great-grand-daughters.
In the course of making small talk I told him three of his cousins had been baptized on the same day at the same camp he had been at. All three were baptized on August 7th, 2007. To verify it I got out my old Bible. It was the one I received when I was baptized at a Bible camp in Michigan on August 7, 1961. This year will be the 60th year since my Baptism. The number sixty has a lot of significance in the Bible.
Most people know that Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years. Something a lot of people don’t know is that the only ones who entered the Promised Land were those that were twenty years old or less when they left Egypt. The only exceptions were Joshua and Caleb. So most of the people entering the Promised Land were sixty years old.
They left Egypt shortly after the Passover. One had to wonder, was it a coincidence that Jesus was crucified at the time of the Passover. He ascended into heaven on the day of Pentecost. After reading the Bible for over sixty years I have always been obsessed with the day of Pentecost. There is a verse in Exodus 12;41 that made me wonder for years about its significance. When I look at the verse where it says God is the same today, yesterday and forever. Is there a significance to the meaning of the selfsame day.
If you read my testimony, you will see I volunteered for Vietnam because of an experience I had. I was to dumb to realize that God’s Will, will be done regardless of what we do. Two years later, having gone clear around the world and back I came to the realization of that fact.
It was during my running from God that I learned to drive a truck. Little did I know it would be the way I would make my living for most of my life. If you read the posts on my blog you will see that I believe God guides our steps. You will also learn that God has a sense of humor. That is something my life experiences have taught me.
In the vision/dream I had in my testimony, there are two things that make me wonder. When I meet that person will I recognize or know him? While I sincerely believe I will be here when the end comes, I also know I could be dead before I get up out of this chair. Over the last few years I have gone through some serious health issues that made me wonder about it all. In the vision/dream I was walking down a hill. From 2016 till 2019 I was on diabetic insulin and could not walk a 100 yards if I had to. Over the last three years I made several lifestyle changes, I got off of insulin and lost almost 60 pounds. The upside of that is that I would be able to be walking down that hill.
Which brings me to another issue. While I definitely thought it was the end, I did not see either of us being caught away. Over the years of my reading I know the Bible says there is a generation born unto God’s wrath. In other words there is a generation upon which God is going to pour out His Wrath. My question when I look at the world we live in today, are we that generation.
It seems to me we certainly could be. When I literally look at the ten commandments and the things the Bible says we are not to do. Get tattoos, I have one, we are not to make any graven images, I was a photographer for several years. If you know how the images are made, they are graven images. Body piercing, I don’t have any of them. We are not to shave our heads, I have nothing to shave. We are not to trim the corners of our beards. How can you shave your face and not do so?
So are we Christians literally or figuratively. Do we make the rules to accommodate our lifestyle or does the Bible mean literally what it says. My belief is God says what he means, and means what he says. We have make our minds up on that. At a low point in my life when I had lost everything, including my family. I turned to the Lord and as all I had was my time, I started tithing it to the Lord and spent two and one half hours a day reading the Bible. That is ten percent of a day. It was the best decision I ever made in my life. Three years later, I had back everything I had lost plus some.
There is a verse in the Bible in John 19:13 that says Pilot took Jesus into the place of judgment. Called the pavement and in the Hebrew Gabbatha. I chose that as the name of my company as that is where I made my living, on the pavement. My company was Gabbatha Interstate Freight Transportation or G.I.F.T. Enterprises. After my heart attack and as I was no longer trucking I changed to God Is For Trusting. He has guided my path.
Many have problems deciding if they should follow the Bible or trust God. Well in Malacha 3:10 God challenges us to do what he says and that if we do he will open the windows of heaven. It also says we will not be able to receive it all. The choice to do so is ours.
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