If you’d have said I could go back and meet my 9 year old self I’d have said you were experiencing a high flu fever.

Attribute it to what you want but i swear I just did, as real as real can be at 330am this morning.

It was in a dream and in all my 64 years to date I never recall having had been given such a lucid albeit brief opportunity to unite my present day self with nine year old Donnie and my deceased father altogether along one dreamscape during which I was acutely aware not to squander such a moment.

Nine year old Donnie was crouched alone preoccupied underneath a table at a bowling alley where he’d been left many times before while mom was in a nearby bingo lounge.

I reached down and scooped me/him up and into my arms from that same floor where in an earlier present day dream, my 64 year old self ran up to and had been scooped up and into the arms of my own dad for a long hug and embrace after so many years apart.

The significance of these side by side dreams is still emerging as I try now to document details of both accounts while fresh from the vivid lucid dreamscape.

I held little Donnie on my lap and hugged him while rushing to decide which of many advices to share with him from this elderly senior version while our time together ticked away might make the biggest difference for his future.

“Don’t ever do drugs,” and “be confident in yourself” were the first two that fell out of my mouth as we sat together eye to eye atop that table against the deafening sounds of the bowling alley in the background.

And as quickly as this meeting had afforded its opportunity, it left when the possibility I might pee the bed if I didn’t run off to the bathroom became apparent.

I have never experienced a dreamscape as healing before to my relationship with myself both then and now.

Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.”

‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭21‬:‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

It took evil King Jehoram just eight years terrible at his job to alienate himself from his staff and subjects.

He died to no one’s regret and was buried apart from where kings are usually buried.

The world is a cruel place.

It remembers and punishes

Contrast that with Jesus who upon our confession, remembers our sins no more and rewards us with a place at his eternal table.

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. —Psalm 103:12

Don’t wait until life is over and you’re hated, lying in disgrace because of who you were when you were alive.

Make good memories while you still can.

Uzziah sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.”

‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭26‬:‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall.

‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭26‬:‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Humility is about as close to pride’s opposite as you can find.

Philippians 2:3-4 (NIV) Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

James 4:10 (NIV) Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Proverbs 22:4 (NIV) Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life.

1 Peter 5:5-6 (NIV) In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

Matthew 23:12 (NIV) For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Micah 6:8 (NIV) He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Proverbs 11:2 (NIV) When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

Pride is at greater risk when you are in high places but not exonerated in low spaces.

You want the truth?

The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one prophet through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” “The king should not say such a thing,” Jehoshaphat replied.”

‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭18‬:‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

You can’t handle the truth!

The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the other prophets without exception are predicting success for the king. Let your word agree with theirs, and speak favorably.” But Micaiah said, “As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what my God says.

‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭18‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Micaiah declared, “If you ever return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me.” Then he added, “Mark my words, all you people!

‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭18‬:‭27‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Sometimes the truth hurts.

Micaiah’s prophesy wasn’t what the king wanted to hear so he wasn’t often consulted.

Though it would have saved his life, he rejected the truth for a deception of lies and paid the ultimate price.

“I told you so” is not what we want to hear after making a bad decision on wicked counsel.

2 Timothy 4:3, states that people will accumulate teachers who “tickle their ears” to hear what they want to hear rather than the truth.

A genuinely worthy friend will always tell you the truth, good or bad, because they love you more than your approval.

In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians.

‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭16‬:‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I’m no king of Judah, but my feet have been in pain for a decade with peripheral neuropathy.

General and specialist physicians across the medical spectrum have no healing solutions so I take pain management meds morning and night to make mere walking bearable.

I have ascribed countless huge biblical events to sovereign acts of God, unexplained by human reasoning but still cry in pain at the mere touch of bedsheets on my feet.

That my condition is not yet healed despite a decade of prayer to the Omnipotent, I rest and endure in knowledge that He is able but not yet willing, otherwise I’d be back playing softball and running around with my grandsons.

Sometimes accepting that God’s plan, purpose or will means not now, not yet, or perhaps not ever in this life is itself the divine purpose enacted in my suffering.

Not my will, but yours be done.

There’s a reason for everything and while my finite knowledge may not yet understand, I trust in God with millions of afflicted others whose unwavering faith in the unknown awaits the one day we will, indeed, know and understand and we finally all be pain free forever.

All your achievements in this life…

King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. All the kings of the earth sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.

‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭9‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

…will come to an end just like everyone else…

Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. Then he rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.

‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭9‬:‭30‬-‭31‬ ‭NIV‬‬

…with no promise of a lasting legacy.

After Rehoboam’s position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israel with him abandoned the law of the Lord.

‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭12‬:‭1‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Life’s a bi__h and then you die.

The book of Ecclesiastes, one of King Solomon’s own works, reflects on the meaning of life and the human experience emphasizing the vanity and transience of worldly pursuits.

We become so engrossed in amassing wealth, prestige, and other definitional measures of our personal success, we often lose sight of accomplishing truly lasting measures that help ensure legacy in this world and in the one beyond.

Rehoboam, in a single generation, essentially reversed the legacy of his father Solomon.

But it was Solomon who, despite his wealth, wisdom and fame, gave us the lasting wisdom that it is all vanity, a meaningless existence in the big picture of eternity.

What maelstrom of accomplishments are you caught up in at the expense of an eternal remembrance?

Legacy matters only in the personal gifts of love, obedience, and worship you can leave not to other people, but to an eternal God.

Because you never know.

Call me morbid, call me crazy, but no early morning goes by without me wondering if today is the day.

Of all the passengers lost in the air over Washington DC this week, I wonder how many pondered the same thing Wednesday morning.

Because you never know when or how your number will be called, we all remain poignantly aware and certain that someday it will.

And at that instant the only thing that will matter is the eternal comfort or the eternal sorrow of those we leave behind.

Our own eternity will already be decided.

What will matter is the emotional remnant. The light legacy of confidence about where we went or the heavy burden of anguish and loneliness of our sudden departure.

While there’s no fully adequate preparation we can make, we can make our destination clearly, joyfully, and apparently known.

God bless and comfort all those families and friends left behind at 9pm Wednesday night.

Our hearts are with you.

They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.”

‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭17‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Ya think?

Everyone worships something.

Religious, spiritual or a liquor bottle, we all choose an object of undying affection and pay homage to it as if it were the savior of our desperate lives.

Though we all know that Jesus Christ is among our options, the enemy feeds us lies and reasons to choose otherwise and like sheep, we follow him to the slaughter of our souls.

The trap is not inescapable.

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

Darkness prevails in the absence of light.

You need light in your life.

Real light.

The kind that pierces the darkness of this world. That’s what’s missing. The light of Jesus’ love illuminates a path of forgiveness and new life.

No slaughter.

Know Jesus.

I am the light of the world.

John 8:12

Naaman, the leper’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!”

We expect God’s healing to arrive with fireworks when a single match will do.

So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

No fireworks.

Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”

Nothing’s free.

The prophet Elisha answered, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing.” And even though Naaman urged him, he refused.
‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭5‬:‭13‬-‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The gifts of God are always free and take little more than another with compassion to pass them on.

God is no showman. He speaks and acts quietly on the hearts of men in prayers of compassion.

A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said.

“How can I set this before a hundred men?” his servant asked.

But Elisha answered, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’ ” Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.”

‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭4‬:‭42‬-‭44‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The old testament mirrors the miracles of Jesus in many instances. Healings and resurrections back to life and this story mirroring Jesus feeding the 5000, the connection is obvious.

So many impossible miracles back then and yet today we struggle to see God’s miraculous hand in our own lives.

What is the difference?

What explains the drought of miracles today that seemed so plentiful back then?

Are we praying wrong? Do we lack faith? Do we reason or explain away actual miracles too quickly as if they are mere magician tricks?

God of the old testament is the same God of the new testament and miracles were widespread and documented in both.

Surely, humanity’s belief in Jesus would rise exponentially if a few miracles could just make the evening news. And isn’t that the answer to all our ills?

Hebrews 1:1-2 is about God revealing himself “in these last days” through Jesus, his son, representing probably the biggest shift from widespread miraculous signs to the single ultimate revelation of Jesus and his resurrection. 1 Cor 13:8-10 refers to “when the perfect comes” bringing the grace of God as an everyday miracle.

Matt 13:58 says that because of their unbelief, he didn’t perform many miracles in his hometown.

Everyone wants to be a first-hand witness to a major miracle but remember the words of Jesus:

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed—John 20:29