TIME ENOUGH AT LAST

Greetings all ye Watchers of Time. Seconds...minutes...hours...days...weeks...months...
years...generations...eons...eternity. On this terrestrial ball we all have the same amount of time. There was a point in time...on 11/13/59...that a quirky T.V. show made its debut... THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Rod Serling would narrate the opening to that nights story with various openings..."You're travelling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are tht of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead--you next stop, the Twilight Zone."

In the first season...on 11/20/59...there was one showcalled Time Enough At Last. Mr. Serling narrates..."Witness Mr. Henry Bemis (Burgess Meridith), a charter member in the fraternity of dreamers. A bookish little man whose passion is the PRINTED PAGE but who is conspired against by a bank president and a wife and a WORLD full of tongue-cluckers and the unrelenting HANDS OF A CLOCK. But in just a moment Mr. Bemis will enter a world without bank presidents or wives or CLOCKS or anything else. He'll have a world all to himself---without anyone."

The story line is that he loves to READ...but is constantly chided and chastized for wasting his time by READING BOOKS. He sneaks into a vault at the bank where he works...to read. While he is down into the vault...there is a massive shock wave...and he discovers that the world has been demolished by a nuclear war...and he has become the LAST MAN ON EARTH. As he surveys the destruction...at first he is shocked...contemplates suicide until he make a discovery. He finds a library...with the books intact.
He is like a kid in a candy store...as he gleefuly...chooses books...organizes them into years and years worth of reading...without any interruptions from anyone...anymore. As he settles in to read the first book...his glasses fall off of his nose...smashes to smithereens... and he is now trapped in a world with all the TIME in the world....BUT unable to read because of his POOR VISION. NOTE: In Proverbs we see that without a VISION...the people perish...or are unrestrained...do what they want to do no matter what God has said about the matter. This vision is hinged on their understanding of the WORD OF GOD. Enter Rod Serling with the closing lines....

"The best-laid plans of mice and men--and Henry Bemis...the small man in the glasses who wanted nothing more but TIME. Henry Bemis, now just a part of the smashed landscape, just a piece of the rubble, just a fragment of what man has DEEDED TO HIMSELF. Mr. Henry Bemis...in the Twilght Zone."

Now that was great T.V...but what does it have to do with us?

Phil Keaggy...on his LOVE BROKE THROUGH album (round, vinyl, with wonderful artwork and words that you can read)...had a song called TIME...a wonderful message with a blistering guitar solo. It was a story TIME personified...and how it is not guaranteed to keep on running forever. Time may appear to be eternal...but TIME as we know it is under the control of the ultimate TIMEKEEPER...God.

"Well...he hasn't always been around...and he won't always be...but he's on the move at this moment...measuring life for you and me." We say we want to "get in the Word"...but we just don't have the time...or we have all of time in the world to do it SOMEDAY.

"I fear, we all submit to him...existing anxiously...and no one is able to turn him off...except the Lord who holds the key." We all have 24 hours in the day...but some people seem to have more time than us...BUT... it is not the amount of time...it is what we do with the time that we have.

"When the Lord stops him...that'll be it! Too late for apologies; too late to forgive your brother, and worst of all too late to turn...you must face eternity." That's right...time will stop...either with your death...or with the Lord coming back...BUT just because TIME has stopped...does not mean that ETERNITY has been derailed. For some a good thing...for others...not so good.

"His name is Tiiiiimmmme...and he's coming to an end...his name is Tiiimmee...where will you be my friend." It is a simple question...based on a simple choice. Where will you be my friend?

"Most people think he'll never stop...but go on perpetually...but old man TIME is running out...and he'll cease eventually." The Word says that the mindset of the age is...Eat, Drink, and be Merry...for TOMORROW you may die...but as Mr. Bemis found out...TOMORROW...
may be NOW. You may have your life planned out in nice little stacks like Mr. Bemis had his books planned out for this year...the next year...and the years to come...BUT...a slip of the glasses...STOPPED TIME in the tracks for him.


What does all this talk of the Twilight Zone...Mr. Henry Bemis...Phil Keaggy and a song named TIME...have to do with anything? Well...as a RUMINATOR...everything.

In the natural...a man or woman has a thought...and through a series of complex, precise, neurological and anatomical outworkings...we speak our thoughts with words...and write down our words...and collect our thoughts in the form of magazines, newspapers, blogs, or BOOKS. Everybody has an opinion...and we have this need to let everyone know our opinion.

God has an opinion...he has a few thoughts...and he has SPOKEN WORDS. Those words have been collected in a series of books (66 of them)....that have been bound in on big book called the BIBLE. Now for the believer...it would behoove us...if we want to know what God is thinking...to READ THE BOOK...but we feel that we either don't have TIME to read the WORD....or we have ALL THE TIME in the world...to get around it someday. The problem is TIME...as we know it will come to an end...and it will be too late. It's like when we get attacked on the street by a mugger, rapist, evil person...and we want to stop time... and learn karate. It's too late by then...the actual event is happening.

How many people have put off...releasing a loved one...or an enemy from the root of bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness...only to have them assume room temperature...aka died? It is too late.

The WORD OF GOD...is valuable for the believer...for walking in true Biblical success and prosperity (Joshua 1:8)...for keeping your way pure (Psalm 119:9,11)...for answered prayer (John 15:7)...for teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness, equipping for every good work (II Timothy 3:16,17)...and a multiplicity. Since 1970...all the way up to this writing (05/29/2007)...I have found that when I live my life according to the Word of God...my life is better...when I stray away from the Word of God...my life gets very complicated. It's not that I don't have problems when I walk by the Word...but I am able to GET THROUGH the tough times. God is speaking to you... through His WORD. Of course...according to John 1:1-14...the WORD is God in the flesh...JESUS...who is the exact representation of the Fathers...thoughts, desires, and will on earth...as it is in heaven. He is speaking...but we can't hear Him when we keep the "GOOD BOOK" closed.

Dear readers of this rumination...don't be a Henry Bemis....where you find yourself caught too late as TIME as you know it comes to an end. Get into the WORD OF GOD today...but be careful. We might need to put a warning lable on it like the Surgeon General has done for cigarettes (which most people who smoke will not adhere to)...WARNING: The Reading of the Word of God..WILL BE...hazardous to your fleshly living...but VERY HEALTHY to your LIFE.

Love and Non-Bemis Kisses
Rodney "I Love The Word of God" Boyd