Eye Witness

There are moments when I am overwhelmed with the kind of ideas that for me would be suitable for developing an entry to place in this blog. I have had one of those moments. I may have to go half way around the world to deliver it but, what the heck, here goes. I have entitled this entry “Eye Witness.” Bear with me for a moment as I try to develop this idea.

About five years ago I was called upon to serve on a committee for candidates seeking board certification as a chaplain. They had completed their training and submitted their paperwork to meet a committee to show their competence as a chaplain caregiver. There were several candidates. One particular candidate was a young African-American woman. As she presented her materials the committee members began to respond to her with questions pertaining to her training. While she engaged the committee she began to become emotional allowing us to see the real caregiver she brought to the committee. As she shared her life with us she told us a particular story. She indicated that she was parked on the interstate highway in Washington, D.C. due to a large traffic jam. It was September 11, 2001. The cause of the traffic jam was because of a large passenger jet had just flown over her car and crashed into the Pentagon. She even reported that one of the airliner’s tires bounced past her car. I was rather taken aback as I heard her dramatic story.

Sometime before hearing this story, I heard a conspiracy theory entitled “Find the Boeing.” What they were communicating was their theory that it wasn’t an airliner that hit the Pentagon on 9/11 but rather a missile. Following the chaplain interview with the African-American woman, I saw her in the hallway. I asked her if it really was a plane that hit the Pentagon based on the information gathered by the theory. I will never forget her reply. She said unequivocally, “It was a big ass plane!” At that moment, I put down the conspiracy theory because I heard the truth from an eye witness.

There are a lot of people that maintain their conviction that Jesus of Nazareth was not the Son of God. Some say that if he really did exist he was just a man. The disciple Thomas is addressed by Jesus following his resurrection after Thomas has doubted that the other disciples had seen the risen Lord. “Thomas,” Jesus said, “you have seen me and believed, but blessed are those who have never seen me and yet believe.” These disciples were eye witnesses. John penned these words, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life. For Life was revealed, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that agless life, which was with the Father, and was made known unto us: That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. (I John 1:1-3) 

We live in the ageless “now” meaning all that we experience we experience in the present. What’s past is gone. What’s future is only and expectation. We can read scripture and think of it as something that existed in the past. What I hold up for you to consider is this Christ that we read about in scripture exists in the ageless now along with us. As I think about it, some may not even believe an eye witness account. So what kind of proof would cause one to trust the account of an eye witness? The answer to that question lies in the change of heart that occurs when the eye witness sees the happening for themselves. Each one of us either are eye witnesses to the Truth or we continue to be skeptical while listening to the conspiracy theorists telling their stories. The day will come when you or someone you love will happen to be in the right place at the right time witnessing the Truth of God. When it happens, your awakening will cast you into the Light and you will seek to offer to those around you just what was witnessed. You will become an eye witness and your life will never be the same again. For those who have never witnessed such accounts, its just a fairy tale, but for the eye witness it is Life indeed!