Run Into Him!!!!

     My view of things is sooooooooooooo different than most people's views. I've come to realize that I won't hardly acknowledge the evil in this world, even though I know it exists. But to look at it head on, and to read about the gory details of it, or to listen to others' talk about it, upsets my soul so badly that I'll do anything and everything to avoid these scenarios. Sometimes, as the darkness seems to envelope the world, ilt seems like there's no where to run or to get away from it all.
     I know that it will get worse, too, and our Christian cliches and trite musings will no longer get us by any longer. "The teachings" and "the doctrines" we espouse in the lavish state we now live in, will break like glass when the chips are down, if we haven't relied on Him, even now, to keep us afloat.
     I'm beginning to see how these same doctrines and teachings can fail, if they are apart from Him. How can that be, if they are about Christ? Well, take the doctrine of grace or faith for example. If they become about those things within themselves, they are sinking sand. If however, we know and believe that Christ is our Grace, and Christ is our Faith, etc. then we are on the solid Rock. There is a fine line there, not easily discerned.
    Paul got to the point where he said that his only doctrine was Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. Christ is our Doctrine-period. He is the Bread, He is the Life, He is the Truth, He is the Door, He is the Good Shepherd, He is the only Way, He is Love, He is God, He is Understanding, He is Hope,He is the Fulfillment of the Law,  He is ____________, etc. He is our All in All!
     He also is our Strong Tower, the One we run into when the darkness increases. If we haven't learned to trust Him in our daily lives, we won't do that when persecution comes. We will rely on ourselves; a dangerous place to be. I am not dismissing the tremendous pull to do that! It's the ultimate self-protection or survival.
     Many years ago, I heard a woman in a church speak and she addressed that very thing. She was telling about how when we are in Christ, learning to depend on Him and not ourselves, that the last vestige of "self" to let go of, and the hardest, was that of physical self-defense. In that situation, it is impossible to call on God, if not for the Spirit of God within us.
     The followers of Jesus ,when He was on earth, bear this out. None of them fought for their lives, and yes, all of them except John were martyred.  I shudder myself to even write these things, but I truly do know that it is "not by might, not by power, but by His Spirit," that we must rely on when and if the evil in this world comes our way. And, then He will decide, if we live or die. It seems like we must settle this now.
     I remember a story that was told about a man who was in an airplane, and it was going down fast. He had rejected Jesus in his life, choosing instead to live for himself. As the plane steadily descended, he called out for Jesus to save him. The story goes that because he hadn't lived for him during his life, that Jesus didn't recognize his call, so He didn't answer. Others in the plane, who had known Jesus in their lives, called out to Him and were comforted and had peace whether or not they lived or died. The Holy Spirit was near to their hearts and minds.
     I'm not going into the theology of all of this. I don't really know what God would do, but the point is well taken, and that is now is the time to call out to God and give your life to Him, as He gave His for you by dying for your sins. And, as we are in Him, we need to learn to trust Him in all things, for Him to be our "point man" in peril or life-threatening situations, and I guess, the hardest trust of all, is to trust Him with the outcome, by life or by death, remembering that He has overcome the sting of death, by giving to us eternal life with Him forever.