This post is mostly a product of Blood River 2010 - or more specifically, the comments section. It’s hard to believe that the first comment I got placed God as a “fairytale creature”, and I was called brainwashed! LOL

I thought it might be a good idea to explain why I live and perceive things as I do. Hopefully you’ll learn something from this - if not about me, then about yourself.

Naturally, I’ll be making several base assumptions. One of them being that God is real. I can understand, given the Roman Catholic Church and the vomit that is Benny Hinn (bring it on, I dare you), most people would be quick to just deny the whole idea of Chistianity.

That very denial should raise a few questions. Other religions worldwide are tolerated, as extremist and divisionist as they may be, but Christianity always gets peoples collective backs up. It really is quite something.

But that’s not what I’m going to talk about. Let’s just assume that God is real - not that He created the universe in 7*24 hours, just that He exists.

Let’s also assume for a moment that heaven, hell and the eternal afterlife are also real. The most atheist of scientists postulate that there are many dimensions above and below our own - even they are not opposed to the idea that there may be much more out there than what we see in our short lifespans.

Finally, lets assume that God is responsible for the creation of humanity, and that He did indeed have a design in mind. This last one will probably be the toughest pill to swallow - believe me, I’ve been there. But we’re just assuming here, remember?

Ok, so we have an all-knowing all-powerful God out there who was responsible for the creation of this universe, us, and is the guardian (of sorts) of the afterlife, which is most likely above time itself, and therefore eternal. Now we’re going to make one final assumption, drawing directly from the Bible. And not just from a single, obscure reference, either. If you look really hard, you’ll notice that this theme is woven throughout the entire book - Genesis to Revelation.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. ~ John 3:16, NASB

There’s that cornerstone verse thingy. All of this - the universe, life and the living of it - is sourced in the very same love that resulted in the crucifixion. God didn’t just decide to randomly populate a backwater planet one day. He actually took the time and effort to create a being that was in His likeness (not image, dangit, likeness), and that He would eventually sacrifice His son for.

I could literally delve into and scope out that measure of love for the rest of my life, but I’ll stick to the topic at hand - why it seems almost as if I’m this brainwashed ignoramus just barreling blindly through life. Honestly, that’s probably because I am, heh.

I came to the conclusion, very long ago, that God probably knows the universe a little better than I do. I also came to the conclusion (and this one took a while) that God knows more about me than what I do. It was at that point that I realised that God was the only one who would truly know what it would take for me to be satisfied, happy, fulfilled.

That’s the problem these days. People are so focused on finding their own happiness, they end up arriving at the completely wrong destination. It’s rooted in fear. Fear of losing control, falling under the influence of forces we can neither comprehend nor counteract. So what do you do?

In a word, fight. Guided by what you believe to be your pursuit of satisfaction (and what is in reality purely a desire to conquer fear via controlling the world around you), you embark on a campaign to define yourself according to the world around you. To measure yourself by its standards, and to get to the “top” of whatever mountain it is you perceive to be climbing.

That “top” is generally expressed in terms like “financial security”, “material wealth”, “home, car, family”, and for the most voracious of the lot, “power”.

Now, see, the problem with all of this is that one day, you are going to die. That’s just scientific fact. And unfortunately, nothing you accumulate in this lifetime is going to be carried across to the afterlife with you.

These people live for the destination. They believe that one day, they’ll get “there”, and once they’ve gotten “there”, they’ll be able to lay down their sword and enjoy their hard-earned spoils. But for the few that have actually gotten “there”, they’ve gotten there with no more sense of who they are, or where they were going to begin with. They’ve won the world, but lost their soul in the process.

That’s why an entirely different group of people focus on the journey. Taking it one day at a time, not overly concerned about the eventual outcome, but trusting that their internal compass will eventually lead them where they want to go.

I’m neither of those groups. I’ve decided that, in these few short years I have available to me, I’d like to focus on being the passenger.

This involves several leaps of faith. Firstly, you’ll have to trust that there is in fact a God, that He does in fact love you, and that He really intends the best for you. Next, you’ll have to trust that your own desires, no matter how “godly” they may seem to your limited perception, will end up straying you from the path.

Finally, you’ll have to trust that He will protect you from the numerous pitfalls out there. No one likes to live a fearful life, but no matter where you go, circumstances will often be out of your control. I’ve found that trusting God for protection actually works, and every day, you grow more confident in His power over the circumstances you find yourself in.

Why the passenger, and not the driver? The driver needs to know the road, needs to know how to operate the vehicle, which warning signs to heed, and what to do when something is about to go wrong. Drivers are constantly focused on the road ahead, and their primary concern is generally the safety of their passengers.

This is the role which God offers to play in our lives. He is infinitely capable, and can more than handle the task of getting you to your destination safely. And all of this leaves you free to be the passenger in this trip called “life”.

What’s so great about it? You don’t have to worry about driving. You don’t have to worry about the destination, or how you’re getting there, or how long it’s going to take. You can stare out the window and admire the scenery as it goes by. You can talk to the driver and the other passengers, learn from them, and apply these lessons to your own life.

When the end comes, the only thing you’ll be taking into the afterlife is yourself. And it’s according to who you are that you will be judged in the end. It’s nothing to be feared, but it does give a new focus, and a new priority for these 80-odd years we are given on earth.

Every new dawn is an opportunity to learn something new about yourself, and about God. Every day you’ll get to challenge your own boundaries, practice the fruits of the Spirit, engross yourself with making a positive contribution to the world around you, and learn to trust God more and more. 

And this means that every day is an investment towards an eternal future. Eventually your time here will run out, and you’ll have to account for how you spent your life. Time is the only finite commodity in the universe - if you chose to spend it wisely, it’ll count in your favor, big time.

And so that’s why I might appear to be “brainwashed” and “ignorant”. I don’t really care about stuff like the LHC, collapsing American markets, Mugabe, Somali pirates and paralympic games and Iraq and McCain. None of those are forces that I can control, and none of those will count in the long run for me. Why, then, should I waste valuable time in ventures that will eventually yield no reward?

It’s purely a cost-benefit calculation, but the benefits are ones that count. Because when I die, I die with no regrets, and that, to me, is already worth it all.