If you journeyed through time?
You can tell the holidays are upon us when you turn on the television and they are playing Christmas movies in October. The nice thing about this is usually they are good wholesome movies that the whole family can watch. I’m not sure if it is to inspire you to run out and buy more things to give for Christmas, or bake for the holidays, but it is a nice change of pace from murder and mayhem.
I recently watched a Hallmark movie called; JOURNEY BACK TO CHRISTMAS, starring Candace Cameron Bure. Destined to spend Christmas alone, while her husband was off fighting World War II, her character is caught in a winter storm on the night of a recurring comet (every 71 years), on Christmas Eve. After getting her car stuck in the snow she seeks shelter in a building near the road. When she exits the building in the morning she finds she has stepped through time to present day. Needless to say she is shocked and befuddled, and has a hard time wrapping her head around what has just happened. She was taken in by the Sheriff’s family, and was constantly amazed how things that were once important to people had disintegrated into the blasé, especially Christmas traditions. This fact is often lamented by the baby boomers to the millennials of today.
This movie made me stop and wonder, if that actually happened to me, what would my reaction be? Would I be able to adapt to the 1940’s culture, and their lack of technology? I would like to think that the answer to that question would be yes, definitely! I have many hobbies that I enjoy that don’t require any type of electronic technology. That being said I do enjoy many of the amenities we have today that make our lives easier because of said technology. I would like to think that going back in time would remind me of the values we seem to have lost since then. In today’s society everyone seems to be in such a hurry, that we feel honored if our families managed to eke out one day to spend with us. The next day Black Friday sales excites them more than the day they just spent with family and friends The Christmas season of the past, which would consist of candlelight services, plays, caroling, baking etc. that would last for weeks, but has now been pared down to nearly 48 hours.
That being said, what would be the same back in the 1940’s as it would be today? The answer to that is no mystery, it would be Jesus Christ. Hebrews 13:8 says it the best: Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. What a reassuring fact, knowing that if we would travel to the past, God is there. If we would be propelled into the future, God is already there, just as He is with us every day of our lives, come rain or shine, trials or tribulation, He is with us. Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. Deuteronomy 31:8 And the LORD, He it is that doth go before thee; He will be with thee, He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed. It all boils down to the fact that if you’re a child of God, He will never forsake you no matter the time or place. It is also a fact that you cannot hide from Him, deny Him, or wish him out of existence, or that you would never have to answer to Him, for what you have done in your life. Something to think about!
As parents, teaching our children the things they should know to be strong people with good moral character, is a never-ending task. Lucky for us God has left us His living word, the Bible, to help us raise our children in the way they should go. One of the lessons that should be a priority is, that Jesus is the best friend they could ever have or want, one that will never leave them or forsake them for any reason.
We as authors, are often faced with ponderousness of how to be an affirmative influence on our readers. Do we use subtlety, hoping they will latch on to the idea we have put before them? Or do we bring out the big guns and hit them right between the eyes with the simple facts that right is right andwrong is wrong. This nation had better wake up, and look up from their screens, to what is going on around them, and the effects it will have on both them and their children in the future, before it is too late. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
Psalms 139:7-10
Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 23:23-24
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
Isaiah 43:2
For his eyes art upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings.
Job 34:21
The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
Psalms 15:3
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Luke 17:21
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39