So Transitory It Is...

Erv passed away about a month ago.

"Passed away" is the softer euphemism we use to say somebody died. He was a young guy relatively speaking, in his early forties with kids in high school. Cancer took him down just as it's taken many others down...

He worked in our office, a logistics planner or "supply chain specialist" if you insist on the latest and greatest cutting edge verberage. We respected his professional work, and he was a valued member of the "team". But now he's gone.

Of course someone had to take up the logistics work he had been doing. Different parts of what he had done got passed around to others. So it was this past week I spent some time going into the system and updating the Planner ID's on a number of items. To make it go quicker, you do an "Ctrl + C" on the Planner number that is replacing the other. Then as your going through the items to be changed it's only a matter of clicking into the Planner ID field and doing a "Ctrl + V" to paste in the new ID number.

So it was I came across a number of items Erv had handled when he was still with us. "Ctrl + V", the new number would be pasted in over the old and then save the change and on to the next item.... What was "Erv" was now "Bill"....

I slowly realized a felt degree of morbidity.. I was erasing "Erv"... It was like there was a picture of Erv on the black board and I was taking a eraser and slowly wiping out that picture, in this case the system's memory of Erv... It was actually depressing.

Yes I know life has to go on... And the demands of business do not wait very long for the dead... Such is life in fallen world that is yet to be fully redeemed...

I thought of myself.... I could die before retirement... Or even when, Lord willing I do retire, I'll be leaving the company... Some one will come along and "Ctrl + V"... "Bill" will be erased and another name will take its place in that data field. A few short years and "Bill" will be totally erased... Such is the transitory nature of fame and existence "under the sun".

It is at this point that secular existential Post-modernism has no answer except disillusionment, despair, hopelessness, and meaninglessness. That philosopy has no eschatalogical hope to give any useful meaning to anything we do or are.

As a Christian, I have that hope. Even though "Bill" will be replaced by another name in that data field, and in a few short years the system will have no trace of "Bill" in its data banks, my life and work is not meaningless.

This world may forget "Erv" and "Bill". God does not... This world is passing away. A New World order is coming. King Jesus will come into the fullness of His kingdom. There are many things that are transitory in this world... But there are many things much more important in the light of that eternity...

Come quickly Lord Jesus!

~ The Billy Goat ~

God's Answer To A "Dorky" Prayer:

God has been VERY good to me. And certainly not because I deserve it at all.

It started at the first of the year when there was a situation at work, the kind where your rational part says, "No big deal, this will work out.", while at the same time your irrational side is saying, "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" In the midst of that frustration I said, "Lord, I really need a change...."

Of course the situation was resolved per the rational side, and I thought, "Bill, It was kind of dumb to be so frustrated by that. You need to just suck it up..." With that I thought no more about it...

Until about a month latter, when my boss and I were having our scheduled one on one. He told me there was an area in the department that was in a "world 'o hurt" due to some people leaving for other jobs. The long and the short of it was I am now working in that other part of the department, and for me, the change has been fantastic. The pressures and deadlines are still there, but there is also a lot less tyranny of the urgent.

I look back at that prayer born out of the frustration of the moment, and have to say in spite of how dorky it was, God choose to give a very clear answer... Thank You Lord! Praise be to You alone.

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On another note: In the past I had thought of getting a Xanga account just to be able to respond to posts on Xanga sites. I resisted doing that because I really didn't like how Zanga operated.

But... Last week I did it.... Yes, I now have a Xanga page. There are a number of young people that I know that have Xanga pages. I saw a need for being able to give a word of experience and, hopefully, wisdom in response to some of the posts I have came across on their sites. It is an avenue for ministry in some small way. The ~ Billy Goat Blog ~ will remain my main blogging site.

One last note: Pastor Doug has been giving an excellent series of messages on I Corinthians 8-9 dealing with the question of Christian liberty. He is dealing with the subject in a way I do not recall ever seeing done before. The fundamental principle that comes through is the ethic of love that is at the soul of Paul's discussion in that passage.

Will close for now.. Sola Deo Gloria!

~ The Billy Goat ~