Crossing the Terminator by Gary Rose
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010428.html
Three
Dog Night and “Black and White”
I
was a young man with three pre-school age children in 1971 and I
loved “Rock and Roll” music. I just accepted the melodies I heard
as “normal”, but didn’t really appreciate the music for what it
was- simply wonderful! Yesterday, I was listening to YouTube videos
and then a Three Dog Night song ( Black and White ) began playing.
Now, I hadn't heard this in years, but I enjoyed it so much that I
played it over and over again.
Later
that day, I remembered a picture of the moon showing the terminator (
the point where darkness becomes light ) and thought about how
individuals turn from sin to God is similar to crossing the
terminator from darkness to light.
The
Bible says...
John
8:12 ( World English
Bible )
12
Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I
am
the light of the world. He
who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light
of life.” note: see also John 9:5
Acts
26 ( WEB )
1
Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak for
yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand, and made his defense.
2
“I think myself happy, King
Agrippa, that I am to make my defense before you this day concerning
all the things that I am accused by the Jews,
3
especially because you are
expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews.
Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently.
4
“Indeed, all the Jews know
my way of life from my youth up, which was from the beginning among
my own nation and at Jerusalem;
5
having known me from the
first, if they are willing to testify, that after the strictest sect
of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
6
Now I stand here to be judged
for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers,
7
which our twelve tribes,
earnestly serving night and day, hope to attain. Concerning this hope
I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa!
8
Why is it judged incredible
with you, if God does raise the dead?
9
“I myself most certainly
thought that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus
of Nazareth.
10
This I also did in Jerusalem.
I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received
authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death I
gave my vote against them.
11
Punishing them often in all
the synagogues, I tried to make them blaspheme. Being exceedingly
enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.
12
“Whereupon as I traveled to
Damascus with the authority and commission from the chief priests,
13
at noon, O king, I saw on the
way a light from the sky, brighter than the sun, shining around me
and those who traveled with me.
14
When we had all fallen to the
earth, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul,
Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against
the goads.’
15
“I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’
“He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are
persecuting.
16
But arise, and stand on your feet,
for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you a servant
and a witness both of the things which you have seen, and of the
things which I will reveal to you;
17
delivering you from the people,
and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you,
18
to open their eyes, that they
may turn from darkness
to light and from the
power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an
inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
Luke
15 ( WEB )
11
He said, “A certain man had
two sons.
12
The younger of them said to
his father, ‘Father, give me my share of your property.’ He
divided his livelihood between them.
13
Not many days after, the
younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far
country. There he wasted his property with riotous living.
14
When he had spent all of it,
there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in
need.
15
He went and joined himself to
one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields
to feed pigs.
16
He wanted to fill his belly
with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any.
17
But when he came to himself
he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread
enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger!
18
I will get up and go to my father,
and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in
your sight.
19
I am no more worthy to be called
your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.”’
20
“He arose, and came to his
father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was
moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
21
The son said to him, ‘Father,
I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no longer
worthy to be called your son.’
22
“But the father said to his
servants, ‘Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring
on his hand, and shoes on his feet.
23
Bring the fattened calf, kill
it, and let us eat, and celebrate;
24
for this, my son, was dead,
and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ They began to
celebrate.
God
is the light of the world and we understand that light best as
exhibited by the son of God, Jesus. And what does light do? Guides
us, prevents our stumbling, helps us see the right way to live our
lives. While in this world, Jesus gave us a perfect example of how to
live, how to follow the heavenly light which leads us to God and
helps us truly live.
Many
people actually enjoy living in darkness; doing whatever they like
and think this is genuine living; they are wrong. The apostle Paul
was a perfect example of this and then he came to his own personal
terminator ( point a which darkness and light intersect ). The
heavenly vision began a change that completely changed him from a
persecutor of “The Way” to one of its most prominent advocates.
The “Prodigal son’s” terminator was when he realized how
foolish and futile his hedonistic life style was and returned to his
family in humility. Two different stories, but both with a change, a
change from darkness to light.
I
wonder, what event in your life will cause you to realize that you
genuinely need the light that only God can supply. When you
eventually reach this point, things will become crystal clear, as
clear a Black and White. I pray that you never cross the terminator
in the wrong direction; stay in the light!
