A Time Beyond Time
From the book “A Tale of Two Cities”, Charles Dickens writes “It was the best of times it was the worst of times”. We read from the website called Literarydivices.net, that this opening line “points out a major conflict between family and love, hatred and oppression, good and evil, light and darkness, and wisdom and folly. Dickens begins this tale with a vision that human prosperity cannot be matched with human despair.” One pastor notes that marriage is bliss, but it comes with the blisters. I proport that family is bliss, but it also comes with its share of blisters.
Back in the 1965, a group called the Byrds released a song entitled Turn! Turn! Turn!. The song goes through a litany of quotes from a famous author and book. The authors name is Solomon and the book is called Ecclesiastes. Here are a few excerpts from Ecclesiastes 3;
To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, And a time to die;
A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;
A time to kill, And a time to heal;
A time to break down, And a time to build up;
A time to weep, And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, And a time to dance;
In 1988, a series called “A Land Before Time” was produced by Universal Pictures. It was an animation film that depicted adventures from the eyes of dinosaurs. This series had one thing right and one thing wrong. First, I do believe in large animals that lived a very long time ago. However, I do not believe that these animals lived before the creation of man, or time for that matter. According to the bible, God created animals and man on the same day. Therefore, if these films are to portray an earth in which there was no human before animals, then its all wrong.
The reason I bring up this film, is simply becasuse of the title. Was there every a land before there was time? Certainly not! Time came before land. But those who read the Bible might find something very wonderful. The Scripture teach that God is outside time. It also reveals that after Jesus returns, “time” as it were, will be no more. What I take that to mean is that we will not have clocks, watches, alarms, or even birthdays.
While doing the research for my doctorate, I found that a major reason why young black men are at a disadvantage regarding their academics, social/emotional quotient and their future hopes, is becasue of the lack of time spent with them from a caring, adult male. A high percentage of young women that are involved in risky habits, can trace their problem to the lack of time spent with a safe father. Even marriage are terminated becasue of the lack of time spent together.
When I think of a time beyond time, I envision life free from the constraints of time limits. If I want to spend 10 minutes or 10 hours, it really doesn’t matter. My father passed away and our time with him came to an end. We cannot talk to him, he cannot see or hear us. He is sleeping according to the Bible. But we live with hope. And this is the hope we have for all humans. It is a hope found in the Bible. It states in Ecclesiastes 3:11, that God has put eternity in the hearts of man. That means then, that when we get to heaven, we shall experience a time beyond time.
