If we stress too much the idea of Christ coming from Heaven and returning to Heaven, and of our going to Heaven in the future to be with the Lord (which always is our hope), we may miss what Christ is doing today in our life to bring us into oneness with Himself and the Father. Do you think this may be going on in your life right now? It is in mine.

Some time ago, just before I had a heart attack, the Lord spoke to me: "All there is, is now."

I was in my office at the church, preparing to enter the sanctuary for the Tuesday night service. I interpreted the message to mean I would not be living much longer. Since the heart attack took place over a year ago I guess that was not the correct interpretation.

Do you know why the Lord emphasized to me "All there is, is now"? It is because I spend so much time worrying about the future that I neglect to relax in the Lord and find Him in every detail of what goes on in my life night and day. Perhaps this is at least part of the reason why I had the attack!

Any point in the future is always now, always the present, when we get there.

Perhaps our greatest problem as human beings is that of worrying about or trying to establish the future. Many if not most of the pains and emergencies we picture never take place. There are times, of course, when we must consider the future and make sure our actions are moving us toward our desired goals. But so much of our concern has to do with things and circumstances we can't do anything about.

Christ always is the I Am, not the I will be. Christ desires that we be with Him where He Is, not where He will be. If we always are with Christ where He Is, then we will be with Him where He will be in the future.

Christ always is what God Is. God and Christ are what They Are right now. The Lord wants us to enter this timeless relationship. He wants each of us to be with Him where He is. He desires that we grow in Him until it always can be said of us we are fully with Him where He Is and an indivisible part of Him. Then the future will take care of itself.

The idea of entering the Oneness that is God and Christ is specially meaningful to me right now. I have spent the last two weeks in bed recovering from a kidney infection. Being seventy-three years of age the infection has left me weak.

Being an inveterate worrier I think of the consequences if I should die. There still are some symptoms of this or that. What does this mean? What does that mean?

When I go to the Lord about one of the symptoms He asks, "Can you get around? Can you do what is at hand?"

"Yes."

"Then what is your problem?"

To be continued.