Labyrinth of Memories
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A short story by Jason K Powers
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*clack*clack*clack*clack* echo’s through the long concrete hallway as his heels hit the floor with each step.  He can hear the sound of metal sliding doors creaking and cracking in other parts of this maze of hallways he is walking through.  Somehow forces in the back of his mind make them open and close, each one independent of another, and seemingly at random, but they are so far off down other hallways, it doesn’t bother him really.
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He passes doors on the left and on the right, reading the plaques above each door as he passes.  December 17^th, 2005, reads one.  Chasing a Kite, reads another.  First Fight.  First Kiss.  Car Wreck 2001.  Death of a Friend.  December 19^th, 1998, and on and on and on.  Some doors are bigger than others.  Some plaques have fallen off over time and all that remains is the faded outline of what was once there.  Some doors are padlocked, some double.  There are some spaces where a door should be, but seem left unused.  Perhaps to be filled later.
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One door is open as he passes, so he looks in…
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Education and the Heart
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In October of 2009, a terrible gang rape happened in California.  An estimated 10 males gang raped a girl for over two hours after a homecoming dance one evening.  As if that wasn’t tragic and horrifying enough, an additional 10 or more people were standing around watching this atrocity go on. 

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Shortly after the news hit the airwaves, media outlets immediately launched in to discussions about how such a horrible thing could have happened.  Yes, it is indeed a terrible, terrible thing that happened to this young girl.  What prompts such acts to evil?  How do we prevent such acts of evil? 

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The parents of the young girl released a statement⁽¹⁾ urging people in their outrage over the issue, to please take a constructive approach to resolving this issue.  They then implied about the need for better education, and a change in atmosphere within schools, to prevent this type of thing from happening again.  News outlets discussed with several people about ‘the solution’ for this problem over the next few days… Better security and better education were the top listed ideas.

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I wanted to take a great point I was reading about on another blog and share it with you here in my own words.  There has been an endless amount of coverage on the recent Tiger Woods tragedy or scandal or what have you.  News channels have brought in a wide range of ‘experts’ to analize why and how Tiger could have done such a thing.
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The “expert opinion” given by most of these people has been all over the board, but, notice carefully which type of ‘expert’ you never see giving their analysis… We have the publicist, psychologists, lawyers; We have friends of Tiger, and friends of his mistresses and the ladies themselves; We don’t have any ‘experts’ giving a spiritual analysis.  Why is it that a pastor or other Christian leader (or, to be fair, other religious leaders) are not considered part of the panel that discusses the analysis of what the problem is?
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Why could this be?
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One person in the media, Brit Hume, recently “appealed to Tiger Woods to find redemption and forgiveness in Christianity… and presents the issue as one of objective truth …and gets right to the heart of the matter of alienation with others and God and our need for forgiveness and reconciliation. He doesn’t present Christianity as a placebo, faith makes us feel better. He offers what Woods needs, what we all need: redemption.”⁽¹⁾  He was soon thereafter ransacked with attacks from other media outlets and even comedian Jon Stewart, who openly and blatantly mocked the Christian faith, using Hume as his primary target⁽²⁾.
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I propose that the Christian worldview… the Christian message that we call the Gospel… the Good News, is a threat to todays western culture.
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Sometimes, some days, we find ourselves thinking that it’s just hard to get out of bed.  Sometimes, some days, we wake up, and just don’t want to go on.  We look at our lives and see the vicious cycle, day in, day out, over and over again.  Nothing changes.  Nothing rearranges.  Nothing new. 
“How did I get to this place?” we ask ourselves.  “Why am I stuck in this place, this job, this house, this situation?”
Sometimes, some days, we wake up and look back over our recent days, weeks and months and think that maybe it’s all just a waste.  Maybe we’re just wasting our time and our energy and efforts… all for what?  For some vague existence in some hole in the wall job, or some life situation you can’t seem to get out of?
“What’s the point?” you ask yourself.  “What’s my purpose?”  “There has to be more to it.”
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You’re right.  There is more to it.  But it’s probably not how you think…
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In the book, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, the main character, Eddie, was a maintenance man at an amusement park called Ruby Pier.  He had worked there most of his life, and died working there.  In this fictional story, he finds himself talking to a little girl after he dies:
“I was sad because I didn’t do anything with my life.  I was nothing.  I accomplished nothing.  I was lost.  I felt like I wasn’t supposed to be there,” Eddie says.
“You were supposed to be there,” she said.
“Where?  AT Ruby Pier?
She nodded.
“Fixin’ rides?  That was my existence?  Why?”
She tilted her head, as if it were obvious.
“The children,” she said.  “You keep them safe… It’s where you were supposed to be,” she said.^{(1)
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The Trials [part 3]

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

In this third and final part, I want to just wrap up…

In the book of Matthew it says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs.  (11)  “Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me.  (12)  Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:10-12 HCSB)

As Christians, sometimes we expect things to get easier for us, since we are on God’s side…  We face Trials…  Besides persecution, I’m sure you can think of 100 other examples of types of trials we might face in life…  Why do we have to go through them in the first place?!

I dealt with that question a little bit previously in a post called The Suffering, but perhaps that is a question left to God.  Perhaps each time, there is a different reason with each person.  Perhaps there is only one reason.  I do not know exactly.  But what I do know is that there is a reason.  There is a hope at the end of all the trials, the suffering and the pain.  A true hope.  One that will not fail us.  One who knows and has felt all that we have been through…

At the end of time, billions of people were scattered on the vast plain before God’s Throne. Some shrank back from the brilliant light before them. But many other groups talked heatedly, not cringing with shame, but with belligerence.

“Can God judge us? How can He know about suffering?”, snapped a pert brunette. She ripped open a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. “We endured terror … beating … torture … death!”

 
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The Trials, Part 2

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Let’s look at one story…  The Persecuted…

In Daniel 3, King Nebuchadnezzar has ordered a decree that all people must bow down and worship a golden statue that he has built.  Whoever does not will be cast in to the furnace of blazing fire.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to do this, in spite of King Nebuchadnezzar’s command to worship a god.  The King vows to kill them if they do not obey him, giving them a second chance…

Daniel 3:15-28 (HCSB/(JKP edit)) says, “Now if you’re ready, when you hear the sound of the (music), fall down and worship the statue I made. But if you don’t worship it, you will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire–and who is the god who can rescue you from my power?”  (16) Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we don’t need to give you an answer to this question.  (17) If the God we serve exists, then He can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He can rescue us from the power of you, the king.”

But notice what else they say…
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The Trials, Part 1

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

As a Christian, Trials will come

2 Timothy 3:12 (HCSB) says, “In fact, all those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” (emphasis mine).

Also, in James 1:2-3 (HCSB) it says, “Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, (3) knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”

So now, just because we have become Christians, does this mean that life will get easy now?  No more hardships, trials, bad things happening?  No!  Bad things happen.  Bad things happen to good people and bad people alike.  Bad things even happen to the best of people.

In India in 2008, over 50,000 Christians were displace, and lost their homes for the sole purpose that they were Christians!
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