September 5, 2011

• An Encounter

  Reflections: August 28, 2011

  When my wife and I woke up this morning, the wonderful warmth of the sun beat through the closed blinds of the bedroom window.  Some stray rays penetrated through the blinds and brightened the room.  Every morning, the sun greets our room and warms it up for us.  There is nothing more natural, more appealing, and more exciting than waking up naturally to the sun’s rays.  These are the days of summer, the days when the sun rises very early and gently stroking us awake, greeting us every morning.  These days, these summer days when the natural rays of warmth greets are days that I dread to miss.  How long until we wake up to the artificial music on our alarm clock?

  The wonderful aroma of coffee permeated through the house, into the vents, greeting our noses.  The coffee was freshly ground the night before and set to brew at the exact time every morning.  For some, this may sound a bit boring and routine, but trust me – it is exciting to wake up every morning.  There is something about the aroma that hits the senses, causes to the mind to be excited, and energizes the body.  Maybe, it is indeed an addiction and the craving-ravaging of mad people rushing into the kitchen or Starbucks every morning without fail to get their caffeine fix or… maybe better, it is a binding ritual, however routine and boring, that my wife and I do every morning, dancing intimately to each other’s rhythms and movements.

  There we were perking up early in the morning to spend time with someone else.  Perhaps, this sounds rather appalling and maybe our marriage is falling apart after those six months.  My wife, when awake rushes to the other room to spend time with someone else.  She jets out of the room after giving me a passionate kiss.  Just as soon as she sets her sights on another, I do the same.  About an hour each day for some time, we both spend time with another and not ourselves.  Yeah, that’s the sign, the sign of an unhealthy marriage where each of us entertains the ideas of another instead of one another.  This is the thinking of the world. The world wants us to put our spouse first, but Christ clearly tells us to put Christ first.

  Most days, she would read the Bible, a devotional, and listen to praise songs to get her into the mindset to mediate on the Lord.  Sometimes, the Lord would speak to her and tell her things about us, about our future, and the path that we are to take.  For an hour, she spends time with the Lord, soaking in this presence and learning more about who He is.  Most days, I would read the Bible, a devotional, and instead of listening to music, type away my thoughts.  Some of my thoughts get published online for others to read – other thoughts just stay with me, patiently locked away until my wife, with the key unlocked them.  There are times when I reflect about the day before and what happened in the spiritual realms – there are days that I think about the circumstances in my life and ask myself what God is telling me through them.  And, there are days that a verse just pops out at me for application into my marriage.  Those are the days, the days that devotional entries come to life by inspiration from God.

  But Sunday is different, different only because we attend service remotely through the International House of Prayer, otherwise known as IHOP, but also because we spend time with God later on during the day.  Remembering the warmth and aroma that woke me up, I suggested that we take a walk.  It was a wonderful day to take a walk – the sun was out and there was no wind – that’s great for thunder-stormy Windy City.  Unbeknownst to us, God sent a messager to deliver a message to us.

  During our walk, I suggest we go to Walgreens to check out an item that we both were thinking of getting.  It was a great idea, to try to complete two things at once – get the exercising done and get the errand done and off the imaginary checklist.  When we reached the parking lot of Walgreens, someone said hi to us.  I did not notice him at first, but noticed him.  My wife did not say anything to the man.  She was focused on getting to where we wanted to go, which is comical to me since I am the one who plans, calendars, and focuses us on the goals that God has given us.  Planning and organization are my greatest strength, but even I need a break from excessive order.  It can be a little boring -- being able to predict what is going to happen next and being able to even predict how others will act.  For the most part, there seems to be no challenges in such situation.  This situation is interesting because my wife was focused and I was the one taking a detour, smelling the roses.

  I turned my head to see who said “hi” to me and said “hi” back.  The man had a cigarette on his right ear, wore jeans, and a shirt.  There was nothing flashy or noticeable about his appearance, but his smile just radiated with me.  The guy smiles, but did not say much because he was heading in the other direction.  Deep down inside of me, I felt like there was more he wanted to tell me and that since we were heading in opposite directions, it would have been difficult for him to strike up a conversation.  While we were in the store, the same guy came up to us and asked, “Are you an alien?”  I heard the verse, “we are aliens in this land.”  I was about to answer yes, but he starting talking.  He said, “I am a time traveler from the future, where earthlings are killed and aliens are spared.  They sent me back to the present to change events.  The future is being changed as we speak as I am changing the present now by talking to you.  It was just like Revelations.”  For some odd reason, I understood the language he spoke.  Maybe he is crazy or maybe not, the point is that I understood what he was trying to tell me.  For some odd reason, I interpreted his language.  I stated, “You have a message for me.”  He looked at me and said, “The message is not to mess with the inter-galaxy patrol.  If you are not with us, then you are against us.”  I answered, “Asking a person if they are an alien right off the bat does not really help."  He offered his hand to me and I shook it.  I interpret this as a gesture of apology.

  Now, you know that this may sound really strange to you and perhaps, I am the only one who could understand it or could have gotten the message, but the message was this…  we are aliens on this planet because we are children of God and belong to heaven.  In the future, God’s wrath will be spilled out to the earth and those who are not aliens will die while those who are aliens will live.  And, those who are not against them are with them.”  There two scriptures that popped out at me – (1) All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. Hebrews 11:12-14 (hence, I thought that perhaps, it is not far-fetched to come up to someone at random and ask them if they are aliens and strangers on earth) and (2) “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.” Luke 9:49-51.  For me, after discerning the spirits, it is clear that this spirit knew the words of God, knew I was an alien on this planet, and knew that whoever is not against him is for him.  He knew the word of God, but when he spoke it, it was speaking in another language, the language of science fiction and fantasy.  And, an interpreter is needed to translate those truths.

  On our way back, I asked my wife whether she thought the guy was crazy or sane.  She thought the guy was crazy.  Perhaps, this is how the Jews saw the disciples when they first received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost (see Acts 2).  Some even thought they were drunk!  And, although this seemed crazy, consider how I knew what he was saying to me beyond the superficial surface of science fiction.  To top that off, we both understood each other and shook hands!  Perhaps, you think I have a screw loose, but the message is particularly important and it was spoken in the language/context of science fiction.  The amazing thing is that the person recognized me, knew I was an alien and sought after me to speak to me.  He had many other people to talk to and babble his "insanities" to, but why me and why chase after me to do so?  That’s because he had a message to give.  Perhaps, in the future, I should give the message in another context/tongue, maybe alluding to the Chronicles of Narnia or maybe the X-men.  Regardless, I believe that this person had a very creative way of giving a message from God to me.

  When I explained this to my wife, she said that more discernment is needed.  Awesome!  The Bible does tell us to discern.  All these sign and wonders have happened around me often enough where I know that God is confirming a path for us – my wife agreed that this may be the case.  This experience is similar to the experience I had in McDonald's when the homeless man who bought food for others with his arch card (homeless person giving away all that he had! - now, that's insanity according to the standards of this world!) told me in another language that God will provide.  And, God has indeed provided.

  Have you thought that God is saying something you, but second guess yourself because it made no sense?

  Copyright 2011 by Christenstein

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