Wednesday, January 05, 2005

A New Year filled with much to understand

So how about you? Does 2005 seem really a wildly outragious number to write on our correspondence? It remember reading 1984 by George Orwell in 1970 in high school lit. It was enough to scare us out of the future...and there were many other forecasts of the future that did not bode well for the human race.

Even further back, in 1960, I visited the World's Fair in Seattle and remember being told we would live in plastic houses etc just like the Jetsons.

Well, wood, concrete and natural materials are still with us as is our wonderful sense of purpose and individuality and free-will. Sometimes the futurecasters just don't get it right! But then again sometimes, some of what they foretell is worth listening to.

I have always enjoyed reading technology reports of what is being created not just in the minds of futurists, but in a very real physical realm as well. I grew up on Popular Science and Popular Mechanics and Mechanix Illustrated, along with Hot Rod, Sports Car Graphics, Road & Track and Car and Driver. I also liked the boats and airplanes, houses, and other technologies. But the one thing that always kept me going back for more was that each magazine issue became obsolete within a very short time! Consumerism at its best!

Attending college after four years in the Navy brought another very interesting revelation to light. We have been students of 'Life' for over four thousand years and yet so little has really changed regarding the nature of man. We still have the same problems and difficulties that plagued our fathers as far back as we can read the record history. How come?

Well, light shines on darkness. Some things have improved for some of us. But how much have the almost 7 billion residents of Earth really enjoyed? To be sure, what the top few have is light-years ahead of the bottom remainder who struggle for food, water and shelter daily.

Here is my conclusion for today:

1. We can only fully know today as we walk in it. Tomorrow is not known yet, and yesterday becomes a tale in so many ways ('the good old days') .
2. God is the revealer of what is unknown as He shares His all-knowing wisdom with His children.
3. Fear is a counterfeit of what will be....it is not tangible knowledge, only speculation of what we do not know.
4. Trust comes in observing Truth. Unchanging Truth!

[None of us could drive one mile on the freeway without having the above statements in full force.]

5. Keeping your eyes on what is coming is a wise thing to do.
6. Separating the known from the speculative is critical.
7. At the end of the day, I may not know much more than when I started the day, but I know one thing: He that puts the stars in the sky will provide the Sun to illuminate my tomorrow just as He has done today.

So we have shared a moment of review of some of the things that help us to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Come back again. Better yet, talk to me. I have found that I am sure of very little but what I am sure of will never change! Beyond that, I can chat very reasonably.

Have a great day! And come back to 'the Village Smithy'. We can pound on the metal of our existence together.

Emery