I saw an American flag on the road today. Needless to say, I felt that wasn’t an appropriate place to display our country’s stars and stripes, and pulled over to pick it up and place it in the compartment under my scooter’s seat. Driving home, a tidal wave of thoughts swept over me. I know many of you have different worldviews and belief systems, but for the most part we share the same common denominator; we’re Americans. When push comes to shove, we have each others’ backs. We hope and pray for our soldiers’ safety, whether or not we condone war. We’re saddened by the latest Gulf oil spill, as it affects the livelihood of our countrymen and endangers the wildlife that inhabits our shores. We the people share these experiences and heartaches.
Now, despite the patriotism of the first paragraph, I have to begin this one on a more somber note. At some point in time, the United States of America will no longer exist (at least in the form we know). It could take just a few weeks or it may collapse slowly over centuries, but as history teaches, no great nation lasts forever. As sad as that fact may be, I’m thankful for it; it causes me to look beyond the surface level of life and into the world of the eternal.
If you’ve ever read Ecclesiastes, written by King Solomon (the so-called wisest man to ever live), you may have been left with a cynical, depressed view of life in general. Afterall, this book of the Bible constantly hammers the meaninglessness of life on Earth. If you delve deeper, though, you’ll see a beautiful picture of what real life is all about; worshipping our Creator. I think God, through Solomon, was trying to revolutionize our view of the natural world and its ultimate importance. As a Christian man living in 2010, I’m increasingly more aware of the fact that this world is only temporary (2 Corinthians 4:18), and I’m simply a “pilgrim” passing through (I Peter 2:11) now that I’ve decided to follow Christ. This life does resemble the Matrix (at least the first of the three-film trilogy), and we will all awake from this illusion one day; an illusion we’d be fools to hold onto as the real thing. Btw, the flag turned out to be a beach towel…
Renee said,
June 7, 2010 @ 10:59 pm
I could tell from the picture that it was a beach towel, however it sparked an amazing train of thoughts. BTW Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite books. Not sure why, but once when I was seeking the Lord through prayer and fasting, I was lead to study that book. Loved it!