I received an email recently that spoke to me on a deeper level than I, at first, realized. It was a series of photographs taken in the Hudson Bay area of Canada. The photographer had a team of dogs out in the Arctic that was approached by a polar bear. Anyone who has lived in the North knows that polar bears can easily kill a team of dogs. There are many stories of those who have done so. Polar bears are powerful creatures that usually only socialize when they mate or raise their young. The rest of the time they live solitary lives in one of the harshest environments on earth.
This photographer just knew his tethered dogs were about to die. As the bear approached it became apparent that he only wanted to play and share some affection. He came in peace. He didn't come to see what he could take. He only wanted some companionship...and a hug.
This story and its photos touched me. I think it's what inspired a dream later. In my dream I was on a battlefield in the middle of another war we, humans, seem so found of. We were all there because our governments had dictated to us whom we should hate and kill. In the middle of the fighting Christ returned. He didn't return as a conquering king like the scriptures say He will. He just walked onto the field and spoke in a quiet voice: "I come in peace...". Somehow every heart heard Him. Most of the men on the field dropped their weapons and rejoiced at the prospect of peace...finally. Only the leaders refused to stop fighting. They called for their men to resume the wholesale murder of their enemies. But the men, hearing a higher calling, walked away and left their leaders with no one to lead. Peace was the deepest yearning in our hearts.
We only needed someone to lead the way. After that dream, all day, I kept repeating the words, "I come in peace" in my mind. There is something in them that speaks to a heaviness in my heart.
We live in a world that grows darker every day. We're all caught up in the smoke and mirrors, in the illusion, that what happens here really matters...and it doesn't. What matters is how we how we live our lives. What matters is who our hearts choose to listen to. Do we choose to listen to God or to our own desires. Do we come in peace or do we come to see what we can get out of someone else? There are only two ways to live in the final analysis. We can live the way of Get or the way of Give. Just imagine a world where no one ever serves anyone else. A world in which everyone is only out for what they can get. If you'll follow that to it's logical conclusion you'll see that kind of world will eventually self destruct. We have it within each of us to choose what kind of world we want to make. That choice comes from whom our hearts listen to. Our choice may not change the world...but it just might. Either way it will change us. Now imagine a world in which everyone willingly serves their fellow man. It's coming...That's the gospel of Christ.
