God IS Love, always has been and always will be!
God IS Love, always has been and always will be!
By Don Twobears
I was a kid of the 50’s, you know one of them kids, always outside, screaming and yelling and having the time of our lives. I remember once, someone purchased a brand new refrigerator and we found the cardboard box. It became everything we could imagine, but most of the time it was a tank and we would actually run over each other, just for fun! It was great being young then, when we would drink water from the garden hose or we would give each other rides on the handlebars…without a helmet!! We would ride our bikes to school everyday, whether we were making A’s and B’s or C’s and D’s. We actually enjoyed going to school, there was always recess, right?! And then later it was called gym class, although I was a strong kid, my interests were in the arts and I joined the band, played the Coronet.
If memory still serves me, running into the school bully was almost the worst, except for a paddling by the Principal. I absolutely Loved the Symphony Orchestra, I could sit in that huge chair and close my eyes and be where ever the music…would take me! The music could be the call of the morning at sunrise, or the quiet thrill of sunset and then in a flash it could turn stormy with flashes of lightning all around. So few of my friends understood that. I would explain it to them and they would just look at me, not in a bad way, with complete misunderstanding. It seems that my imagination was a little bigger than theirs and I could see things they never knew existed.
During all those years, my Dad was in the Military and was usually somewhere else. My Mom was a good cook and provider and I sure did Love her, but she did not know how to deal with a boy, so she stuck to my two sisters instead. Having said this, I sort of raised myself and I sure had a lot of questions about way too many things and the majority of them never were answered. For example; If the music is great and thrills the heart, why does it feel like your head is in the clouds? Or when ya go steady and she gets mad at you and she walks away, where did your heart go to? On one particular day, my dad was kind enough to get me out of school early (maybe it was NOT a kind thing) and we went to see a family off, as they began their flight back to the states from the Philippines, Clark Air Base. I’m not sure of the spelling, but it was the Height (Pronounced “Hi-eat”) Family and her name was Debra May and it was the first time, that I was in Love with someone, yeah…puppy love, but it was so real to me!
She and I walked around the front of the Terminal, sat on a bench and for whatever reason, I felt so bad, my chest was in pain, my mind was confused and there seemed to be a scream ready to jump out! Then she Kissed me again, on the lips and said goodbye, went back in the terminal, got on the plane and left. I couldn’t stop crying but I wasn’t all that sure why though, I mean she was just a girl, right?! My Dad drove us home and the song ” Rhythm of the Rain” was playing on the radio, I asked my Dad to drop me on the corner and he did. Sitting there I saw her plane fly over head, as the tears streamed from my eyes and my Heart died.
Something new had just taken place, I simply remember all the pain and suffering for the next week or two. I couldn’t eat anything, I drank orange juice instead, my Parents said it would all go away in a day or so, here at over 60 years, I still remember it vividly. Our Maid Priscilla asked what was wrong with me, I told her and from then on she would laugh at me. So to an extent, I know that the majority of all people in the world, have NO idea of what Love really is. They go through the motions, especially on Valentines Day, but to KNOW what true Love is, they are oblivious. I do not say this because of my experience above, but you must admit, there seems to be evidence to that end. Since that day in Clark Airbase, I have felt that same dying of my Heart, every time I would lose someone dear, as they would pass over. Even with all the pets that we had, each would pass on and there was a new scar on my heart. The tears would come and my Mom told me that the Lord catches all our tears, in a small bottle and then when we need a blessing, HE pours some of those tears out to us.
Those days are way back in my life and yet just thinking on them, I still get a tear or two. I am NOT a soft-hearted man, I am a man that will NOT let a single moment of Love slip away into forgetfulness. LOVE is something special and not like any other feeling we have, it strikes to the deepest spot we have, an area we never knew we had. So misunderstood, it causes confusion and discord when it pops up. Suddenly we know, just how deep our heart truly is. Whether your willing to deal with that concept, is whole nother thing! That spot in my Heart, is the exact spot that, I met My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I was so tired of loosing everything and everyone, I was tired of all the tears and crying, I was tired of being alone all the time. When I understood what it meant for someone to “Die for you”, when it settled into that hidden spot so very deep in my heart, something changed.
As a young boy, I had asked my Mom, who was a very practical woman, If I would see those pets when I go to Heaven, she said, she didn’t know. Don’t get me wrong here, These were Loving and Giving People! She didn’t know for sure, so she was not going to lie to me, just to make me feel better! I’m sure there are some readers here, that are grumbling a little. How better to KNOW the truth, than to hear it all the time, it makes it easier to know when one lies to you. For better or for worse, Life gives and takes away, makes you happy and then makes you sad, that is life. Once I gave my heart to the Lord, none of that has changed in any way, only now, I am NOT alone with it! Now, I know for sure I will see all my Pets when I go to be in Heaven and why is that, you ask? Jesus Christ loved me enough to Die for me!! My sense of Love, which has served me all these years, is telling me the truth, through bright eyes, full of wonder, through all the tears I have shed. Jesus Christ, God, is always there!
My contradictors, those that are not saved, have all the questions; Even though they are always telling everyone, how intelligent they are, they still can’t understand the Bible! Should you ask them, how giving they are, they have already listed and numbered every gift and to whom it was given. Such wonderful people to be sure! But their still LOST and headed for Eternal destruction! Heaven help you, if you tell them that to their face! Then the gloves are off! Problem is, they are only skin deep, very shallow at best, there is no real heart, with any depth to it. And they are bound and determined to prove me wrong, at all cost. Ignorance at it’s finest, they do not recognize, the problem is not to convince me, but God, HE has the final say!
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Here’s what is so unusual, the previous verses spell out the condemnation by God.
Matthew 11:21-27 “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.”
Ya see, I learned a long time ago, what “Love” really is and I chose to hold it dear in my heart. Yuppers, I made some mistakes back then and I still make’em today, but one thing is for sure, My Lord and MY God never makes a mistake…ever! Come on now, we hear them all the time, “Well…it seems they were taken too early in life”, really?! And you know this how?? I can’t tell you how many times I prayed and wished I would be spared the pain and suffering, it was still there and I had to deal with it. Just like YOU! The Bible says;
Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
And once again, the verses before this one above, spell out the problem with the person that will not come to Jesus Christ;
Proverbs 14:1-11 “Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands. He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the Lord: but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him. In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them. Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox. A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies. A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not: but knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth. Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge. The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit. Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour. The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy. The house of the wicked shall be overthrown: but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish.”
Love is not something that just sort of comes along, it is something that we are given, by God, who is Love! And you are right, sometimes Love hurts like nothing else ever could, but would you be willing to give up all your Love…for something less? I don’t think so!
1 John 4:16-21 “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that Loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.”
God said it, I believe it, that settles it!!!