One of the hardest things to do, especially in our age of instant communication and often instant gratification, is to wait. Hurry Up and Wait! We want things to work out quickly and instantly and often we begin to expect things that are just not realistic. We pray for things and expect GOD to answer our prayers right away. Maybe He will and He certainly can, as He knows what we will ask for even before we ask. Often, however, He uses the mystery of time to bring about His purposes for His ultimate Glory and in conjunction with our free will and requests. Now, if we can just Hurry Up and Wait!

One of the things leading to tragedy of small and even large proportions is the RUSH Job mentality. Our Information Age, along with the tendency we have today to just rush around from one activity to the next, sets us up for tragic thinking and tragic mistakes. This is true for students working on a project or studying for a test, athletes working to perform a particular task (just consider the Olympic Athletes), employees working on a job or looking to build a business, government authorities pushing through large and mostly unread bills or legislation, and any believer in GOD who attempts to grow in maturity and spirituality and hopes to just be zapped or somehow enlightened to a level of growth. Life just doesn’t work that way. Time serves a purpose. It allows for development; it allows for growth. GOD set it up this way. We mess things up when we take a short cut and do a RUSH Job or have that mentality.

By now, you may have heard of the most recent campus shooting. On Friday afternoon, biology professor Amy Bishop, at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, took out a hand gun and shot and killed three fellow professors, injuring three others. What a tragedy, and that on many levels! This time, it wasn’t a student; it was a respected professor. While more about this and Mrs. Bishop will be coming out, it seems clear that she is a highly intelligent woman, with an earned doctorate from Harvard University. Her doctorate was in genetics and she worked in the medical field before joining the Huntsville campus as a biology professor. Mrs. Bishop had been involved in much good research, in particular, in the field of neuroscience. A focus of her research has involved the gaseous chemical compound, nitric oxide, which is known as a free radical. I wish to play off this point in today’s Blog article and make several applications.

“You just don’t get it!” How often have you heard someone say this or perhaps have even said this to someone else yourself? From my most recent experience with tragedy, all coming from the core tragedy of what happened at Virginia Tech on 04-16-07, this line is still ringing in my mind. In my last Blog, I noted the problem with only one-way communication, along with the need for us to consider The ONE particular Way GOD has personally communicated with us. I mentioned the sad fact that I had to spend 14 days of my life (and it could have easily been as long as 90 days :-o ) in jail here in my own area for something I did not even do down in North Carolina. As a condition for release in this Blacksburg area, I had to turn myself in to the Eastern North Carolina authorities, where the false charge was alleged. I ended up spending an additional 4 days of my life locked up there (and again, it could have been longer). My initial defense was again not heard, despite reference to specifics, including naming the police who had stopped me back in December and let me go. The Judge there, who since 2008 has ruled in ways that have kept my family separated, again condescendingly said to me: “You just don’t get it!”

As we each reflect back on 2009 and look forward into 2010, it is quite appropriate to think further about communication. Who did you communicate with in 2009 or who reached out to communicate with you? To whom should you reach out and try to communicate with this coming year? Many still send out cards or information letters, especially around Christmas time or toward the end of the year. We each would do well to more fully consider GOD’s communication to us, as specially celebrated this time of year. In fact, you may wish to review my 07-06-08 Blog article entitled “KEY Communication” for more thoughts there. I wish to take this article in a slightly different direction and here talk more about “ONE WAY Communication.”

My life experience (particularly in the past 32 months, since 04-16-07) should be enough to help anyone at least question The SYSTEM. What am I talking about? I’ve addressed it in many articles on this Website. Is there a system we can look to and possibly even trust? Many are recognizing the problems in the government; can we trust those politicians who are putting us all into such massive, shackling debt that it will cripple us for years to come? Maybe we should look to the educational system? Then again, there are all of those failures in the standards of learning and testing, along with all of the increasing violence and even shootings in our schools. Perhaps we can trust the medical system? The health care debate is certainly bringing out many issues and problems there. I know… the answer must be to trust the religious system! Yet, there are obvious problems there too and this is the very thing that creates resentment and even wars and turns many from GOD. As noted in my recent "Radical CHRISTianity" Blog, many burnt by the religious system turn to radical secularism or a more violent religion, such as radical Islam. Surely we can claim our human rights and trust the legal and Justice System of this great United States or perhaps even that global body at the United Nations!? Yet, my forced and unjust experiences (even again this past Monday) illustrate many serious problems in the legal system. Are you trusting The SYSTEM? If so, which aspect and why?

Events over the past few days lead me to discuss a very important subject in this article. No doubt, most of you are familiar with the concept of a holograph or even the holodeck on the Star Trek shows. These programs portray a virtual world that appears just as true as the real world. Likely, you have seen some 3-D movie, such as the recent edition movie release of “A Christmas Carol” or possibly you have even been to an I-MAX theatre. These theatres make you feel as though you are a part of the show. Most of us are at least familiar with or even regularly experience stereo sound and even the effects of a surround sound stereo system. Virginia Tech does cutting-edge research in an area they call The CAVE, where images and sounds are projected to simulate something like the Star Trek holodeck. With all of the games, audio and video images around us, we each are increasingly involved in what are called virtual experiences. The sensory perception of a simulated atmosphere mimics what a real atmosphere might be like. Why I am writing about this today? There is a real world and there are many virtual worlds. I wonder, dear reader, if perhaps you could be falling victim to a VIRTUAL Reality?

I suspect that many of you have rarely, if ever, heard of a perspective quite like what this article will discuss. If so, I wouldn’t need to be talking about it today. ;-) Following up on my last article—“Doubting Darwin”—I wish to pursue this idea of doubting a bit further. Have you ever personally noticed that you often second guess yourself or some action or position you have taken? That is not always a bad thing. In fact, what I’m writing about here runs opposite from the typical psychological approach that drives most people’s thinking and behavior. Does this at least mentally challenge you to read further? When you think about it, SELF DOUBT is actually a great gift from GOD!

Yesterday was a very important day in the minds of many around the world. I heard of celebrations of it on the radio and saw examples of celebrations on television. Thousands of people in academic circles around the world, including scientists and leaders at Virginia Tech promoted this special day. What was this day? Why did it garner the attention of so many worldwide? November 24, 1859 (150 years ago) was when…