Jam#8 Time Keeping… Faith Peeping
Gazing at the stars is one of my favorite past times. Whenever there’s a clear night, chances are you’ll find me outside with my head cocked way back… speechless… as I stare up past the big dipper. Of course, living in the shadows of New York City is not the optimum setting for this, but… well… we all do what we can.
I can’t help myself in those moments. I just start to jam with God and while in prayer, my heart soars knowing that He wants to reveal so much more to us than we’re capable of knowing. But it’s not just the vastness of the universe that brings me to this point. No… what really gets me going, as I soak in a black starlit night is how far beyond time God really is. Because past all of our comprehensions of the vastness of space…beyond all our poetic musings on locating heaven, lies one simple truth.
This life is fragile. This time is precious. And its days are numbered, and so are ours. Now, that’s not something to worry about. It should be just as much a cause for celebration than anything else in life.
I mean… think about the Sermon on the Mount… when Jesus said, “Notice how the flowers grow. They don’t toil or spin. But I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass in the field that grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will He not much more provide for you, oh you of little faith?” (Luke 12:27-28)
You can find all kinds of commentaries on this passage, and you probably have a few of your own, but check this out… why would Love compare us to a flower, or a field full of grass? When was the last time you went out into your backyard, laid on the ground and contemplated how much God cares for your lawn?
I’m lead to believe that somewhere in this message is a key to understanding the roles of death and eternity in our lives. We all understand that what is here today might be gone tomorrow. If you’ve experienced the passing of a loved one, you know what I mean. But there’s so much for us to jam on, here. Let’s think about something else Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Suddenly, we all have to face it. Whether we’re talking about a single blade of grass, our own lives or the entire universe, it’s all going to go bye-bye. That’s right… even the cosmos itself, billions upon billions of stars and planets throughout eons of time… it all comes with a shelf life. Even most scientists believe that eventually, when everything stops expanding, the universe will start to collapse in on itself. Some call it the big crunch.
Well there’s one instrument in this mix that’s always in play… and that is… time. That’s right… time… the measuring stick we use to compare the past to the present and on into the future.
You’ve probably done this in school, but go ahead and draw a line on a piece of paper from left to right. Place arrows on both ends, and a dot in the middle. Let the dot indicate the present, the left side of the dot indicate our past, and the right side, our future.
This is how we know time… in linear form. This is how we can grasp it and make sense of it in relation to our lives. But for a moment, let’s think outside of the box, (or outside of the line, if you will). Can our minds really grasp this? I mean can you really comprehend another line rising perpendicularly from our linear time line? Logic says no… reason asks, why… and your friends are probably saying, “dude… what you been smoking?”
But seriously, we need to investigate the idea that there is more to our existence than what has been dictated to us by the traditional linear time line. Could this be how God looks at time?
In the Art of Science we jammed on how science is actually the study of how God made things. But if you take away all of creation, until all that’s left is God, Himself, guess what? You know what else has been taken away? Time.
You see… God doesn’t wear a watch. He’s not subject to time, like we are. Time was also a creation. It was created when Love created the universe.
In other words, consider the possibility that there never was a moment before God created the universe, where He would have said, “OK, now it’s time to create the universe… and conversely, will there be a linear moment after Heaven and earth has in fact, passed away? The point I’m trying to make here is basically this… if God exists beyond time, then we must worship him beyond time, as well.
I know, I know. That’s way out there. I usually lose most people when I start talking like this. But I can’t help it. You see, the more I think beyond the limits of linear time, the more my faith makes sense to me.
Here’s an example. In Hebrews 11:3, it says, “By faith, we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible.” (World English Bible translation)
If time is the measurement of movement in a physical existence, then it was created when God made the universe, and if it’s by faith, that we can see this, then somewhere within our faith in God, is the ability to look beyond time.
You see, by faith, we’re not bound by time and the limits of this temporary life. I believe that somewhere within our faith is the ability to see things the way God sees them. When we read about Christ walking the earth, performing miracles, healing the sick, suffering and dying… and then rising from the grave… in ways, we’re there… because by faith, we are transported back to witness the excitement and the passion, the humor and the drama of each event. By faith, we accept these events, even without having witnessed them for ourselves in the flesh.
And, in the same way, it’s our faith that transports us into the future allowing us to imagine the goals and visions that Love places in our hearts, to see our Renaissance babies born, and finally… to picture what is to come after we’ve finished our journey, here in this life.
Yes, faith is the only way to keep non-linear time… because it’s our only way to see beyond the limits of our human knowledge and logic. That’s a good thing, because last time I looked, someone was challenging conventional logic and someone else was amending to our pool of human knowledge. But it just takes one jam with the King to realize that… all of the above is just dust in the wind compared to what awaits us in God’s presence.
And although no eye has seen, nor ear has heard the things which God has prepared for us, we know that He’s revealed them to us by His Spirit, and that being through our faith. I’m convinced with all my heart that there are lessons we will learn in this life that we’ll will carry with us into eternity… lessons of love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Because against these, there is no law… no logic… and no time.
I would like to dedicate this jam to the memory of Edward J. Redeker, my beloved stepfather, and my spiritual father.
If you have been fortunate enough, as I have, to have known someone in your life that truly exemplifies the love of God, then consider yourself blessed. I have known such a person. Ed Redeker was someone that can accurately be described as, “a man of God.”
I’ll never forget the Sunday afternoons when our family would get together for a special occasion, holiday or just a meal. Afterwards, as we all started winding down for the weekend, he would be freshening up to go out and minister at a homeless shelter or in a local prison. He wasn’t paid or compensated in any way for this. This was his calling. His endless zeal and stamina for the Lord, even at the age of 82, is something that would put most of us to shame. And, it’s something I’ll never forget.
But the love of God in this man’s life was not limited to his ministry. He showed it, first and foremost to his family, and no matter what the situation, no matter where you were, you knew that you could depend on “Pop” to help out, if he could. Pop, you will be sorely missed, but we rejoice in knowing that you are now… where your heart has always been.
