Finest Last Hour

Approximately, I am breathing my 271,560^th hour on earth, exactly an hour ago, I don’t have any idea if this would be my last hour; give me another hour I would still be clueless. Is there anyone on earth who lived to tell about their last hour? That’s a mere impossibility, a dewdrop on planet Mars.

I know of One who did. Actually, it’s more of His followers who wrote about His last hour, who had full account on the finest hour that was set to alter even the human genome, it must have been the bloodiest obscenity witnessed both by His accusers and His friends. It must have been the most painful hour in the life of a mother, a mother who could only stare at her son, a mother who is the only one to distinguish between blood from tears by the look at her son’s eyes.

“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtani?”

It must have been puzzling for a Roman soldier to see the clouds turn dark as the earth shook; on the other hand, it must have been so sweet a sound of victory for heaven. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. History just had its major overhaul; heaven was opened to those who would believe.

What a beautiful scene, the most beautiful Name on the earth lifted high, His finest last hour has paved way to eternity with Him, and man in his sinful nature can now spend eternity with the infinitely pure God. The nails were not able to hold Him for good, the wooden cross was not sturdy enough to carry Him, and the tomb was too small for Him.

I could only imagine.

Can it be pure joy to witness Jesus being taken up in the air?

Sadly, time took its toll. What was once a headliner in Jerusalem has suddenly become a trivial issue more so an object of mockery. The cross was reduced from being a symbol to a logo. A rock star’s emblem. A tattoo on the arm.

Man and his tragic kingdom. Seemingly boundless but feeble. A decade of reading books made man assume knowledge. It’s the glorious pretension of a life valued in carnal means. It’s god with a small “g”. It’s the self secured agenda of survival, its technology at it’s finest. It’s a matter of sixty years or more for the vegetarians. From natal to fatal. We all have one shot each. The earth might stay for another hundred years, but you?

Finest last hour, care to have yours?

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

Matthew 28:5-7

Defying wounds

Sorrow causes deep scars, and indelibly writes its story on the suffering heart. We never completely recover from our greatest grief and are never the same after having passed through them. Yet sorrow that is endured in the right spirit impacts our growth favorably and brings us a greater sense of compassion for others. 1

I remember watching war movies as a young kid, it completely reminds me of blood, sweat and tears that mark the courageous and separate the weak and hopeless from those who kill for freedom. Little did I know that those who took part in these real-life dramas have one thing in common, they are wounded not only by a raging bullet but by the sorrows of losing their loved ones and contributing to the lost of others too.

I could only imagine what goes on inside the head of those on the frontlines. Those who seldom run for cover but provide covering for their nation, those soldiers who take pleasure in being wounded and half-killed just for that opportunity to have their flag waved at the end of the battlefield instead of their opponent’s.

The war has ended for the majority and the world is left with veterans who are fighting a different war nowadays. A war to overcome the grief of living the rest of their lives in wheel chairs, to not be able to tell stories to their grand children because they would just either hate them or ignore them, to feel the neglect of the society they once fought for, and to witness their own nation being sold back to their former enemies by virtue of the greed of hierarchical thieves that permeate the ruling kind.

Today, as we fight for trivial opportunities to live an extra day, to gain that extra “hits” on our websites, to be forgiven by those we hurt, to take center stage in the cinematic portfolio of “ingenuities”, to speak good to those who enslave us in a 9-5 routine, to endure a long download time on the internet, to earn big cash in exchange for lost dignity on spotlight vis-à-vis a blabbering game show host, to spend the next precious minutes of our lifetime in the public court of humiliation, to have our blogs read by as much people - aren’t we soldiers ourselves? And if we are soldiers in our own ranks, are we prepared for our own wounds of sorrows?

I would like to emphasize on the above paragraph, “We never completely recover from our greatest grief and are never the same after having passed through them”, if this is true then we could safely proceed to the last sentence of the same paragraph, “Yet sorrow that is endured in the right spirit impacts our growth favorably…”.

Dear friend, it only takes a right spirit to burn the bridge of sorrow, besides it’s really supposed to be a bridge so you better take that one big step to move on and conquer the land of hope that is set before you. Yes, you will never completely recover but you have passed through them already and it’s high time to endure it.

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.” Exodus 14:15

Notes:

1. L.B. Cowman, Streams in the Desert, 1997 Zondervan Corp, pp 108

In the eyes of a dying loved one

“When I die, I want you to move on with life, I want you to discover the joy of life in someone else’s arms, promise me you’ll take care of yourself”

“Why are you telling me that? Are you tired of living already?”

“No, because you’re getting tired of watching me live my last”

I seldom appreciate drama flicks from back home, more so the hapless clichés of a beautiful lady dying and leaving behind her teary eyed boyfriend, and if he’s not so lucky at all he gets hit by a car and dies a more horrible death.

I think, as long as there is a need to emphasize on the science of undying love, someone always needs to die. One great irony that I am really used to watching in my dire attempt to kill my boredom especially when there’s not much project to do and the books on my shelf becomes too heavy for me to take.

One day while staying late for work, I decided to grab a cup of coffee and turned the TV on (yes, that’s how freak of a workaholic I am, coffee makes me sleep after long hours of working). Then I saw this flick that I really would not find interesting at all on a normal blood pressure, but the coffee was too hot for me, so I was glued to the boob tube for the next hour watching a cancer stricken bachelor falling in love with the nurse who takes care of him. Eventually they were married, alongside with the usual conflicts; they got through for a couple of years. What makes me frozen in the brown sofa that I was sitting (I had my ear phones on since it was really very late) was the scene where the nurse cries in hopelessness as her prince is breathing his last, he even uttered a brave question, “how do you plan to move on?”, and in all honesty, she replied in tears, “I don’t know”.

How much love could anyone give to let someone else live? I’m very sure if there’s one thing on earth that the lady nurse would do is to love her man to the point of him living, but what could she do? She’s a mere mortal, that one day she would end up dying also. That’s the sick cycle of humanity, living, loving and dying.

I can not help but remember one great story of death and life. Suspended in mid-air, parched in blood, the darkening of the clouds is none compared to what His eyes are seeing, His whole mortal body is minutes away from giving up, before that final stare to His Father in heaven, He looks down on those whom He loved, “I want you to live forever”

Yes, each and everyone of us will die, good for you if you would have at least half of your friends on your social networking site gathering before your casket, and as long as we are living, we are continually loving someone else, but not long enough, for we do not live forever – yet. The one they call Christ, who died on the cross thousands of years ago offered one great gift, no need to toss the coin, no need to consult the other half of your doubts, no need to write an inspiring blog, it is simple. He sealed it with His own blood, BELIEVE AND YOU WILL HAVE LIFE!