"Chaplain’s Corner”

 The Path of Our Freedoms

These are very difficult times that we live in right now!  There are many of us that find it hard to think that certain issues could possibly emerge in our lifetimes, but here we are, at a possible crossroads of ideologies that are not a part of Saturday night at the movies, but it is sure and certain that this great and totally unique nation that we live in. There are also many that have fought for and many scores have died for its freedoms for more than 248 years, is firmly rooted and established on Christian principles!  

 It is confusing for many, but should be clearer to all of us, how we see the events that are happening in our lives today!  What is equally true is that, what many of our people do not see,  may even matter more! We wonder what blinds many here in our communities from seeing things as they really are.  We wonder if many are judging what Christian values and platform they represent?  If we all were to look at this question in a serious and ‘cinemascope’ way, we just maybe may open a new way of experiencing life and answering questions many of us are carrying silently, or not so silently, for a long time!

We may be familiar with the scriptural passage in Mark 10:46-52 about blind Bartimaeus sitting on the side of the road in Jericho. When he heard people in the crowd say that Jesus was approaching the crowd gathered there, he stood and cried out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me”! The other people around him wanted him to be quiet, but he cried out even louder!  Then Christ stopped and commanded Bartimaeus to come forward and asked him, "What do you want me to do for you”? Blind Bartimaeus said to Jesus, "Please Rabbi, that I may have my sight.” Then Jesus said, "Go on your way, your faith has made you well”!  Bartimaeus immediately received his sight and followed Jesus along the road he traveled. It seems a typical healing story, doesn’t it? But the story goes much deeper.

There is a lot going on in this story that perhaps we do not see.  For one, who is blind in this story? Most people will say, "The blind beggar Bartimaeus, of course”! Sure, he is blind, but Bartimaeus is perhaps the only one who really understands or "sees” the healing power of God working through Christ. The rest of the crowd just does not get it! There are plenty of examples in God’s Word and the few who ‘get it’ and many who ‘don’t,’ just as there are today. What happens before this story are the stories of many who should see, but do not.  Peter, the disciple, recognizes that Jesus is the Messiah, but fails to understand what a difficult calling he is facing.   

 In today’s terms, life is perhaps much more complicated. Many of us have questions, especially about our present and future freedoms and choices that affect those freedoms. There are many of these questions about our current and near future choices that affect our way of life and will affect our daily lives for some time to come, and the lives of us and our great country! 

One of our great temptations in our daily lives today is…. that many of us become too rigid and narrow minded, that what we cannot do is possibly related to those decisions?  Is it too hard to see the big picture painted with a broad brush, according to God’s Word!? We tend to perhaps see things as we want to or be pushed or persuaded by something or someone else.  The dangers of this type of short sightedness are possibly risking our future today.

These times that we live in and the decisions we will make soon are pivotal to everyone’s future. When we make decisions solely on previous circumstances, what our predecessors may have thought and did, or what is cool or coincides with others or our peers, we could be gambling with our own freedoms and the future?

I encourage everyone to take a close look at their heart and life of themselves and others. Your faith in following God’s Word will in ‘All Ways’ to heal any blind spots we may have and protect our freedoms and futures.

It is by His Grace we are saved….by His Word we live …and by His Will that we serve others….