Second Star to the Right - - and Straight on til Morning

That famous line from PETER PAN, "...the second star to the right, and straight on til morning" that which led the way to Neverland - the place where children need never grow up; because when one grows up, they eventually get old; then they die. This expression rings with angst in our souls.

The conundrum of humanity is summed up by Gertrude from the Shakespearean play Hamlet when she addresses her young prince regarding his late father, recently (mysteriously) dead:

"Do not forever with thy vailèd lids seek for thy noble father in the dust. Thou know’st ’tis common. All that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity."  

Death is the insult to our existence, the infringement and lastly the denial of what we would have - life unending (though there are those who find this idea abhorrent, having nothing to compare an eternal life with, other than the present one, fraught with sorrows and strife). Neverland was the symbol of exuberance, the escape from death, the perpetuation of youth, of life and vigor - and quite simply, fun! 

Those who know Star Trek, recognize that especially in TOS, they would often have titles for their episodes which referred to the classics, and John Barry's Peter Pan was often quoted. 

In fact in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, that was the closing line of Captain Kirk himself "...second star to the right, and straight on til morning". Then in the next (and last) appearance of Kirk in Star Trek VII: Generations, with his dying breath, the famed Captain of the USS Enterprise 1701-A recollected the sum of his life and simply said to the present Captain of the USS Enterprise-D, Jean-Luc Picard, "It was fun!" Which was the ultimate goal of Peter Pan and Company.

We see some of those about us with wrinkled faces, aged and bent bodies, yet there is still a twinkle in their eye, that relentless exuberance for fun that burns brightly, having never dimmed from their youth. And yet for all that, in the end, all grows dim and like a candle it gets snuffed out. That soul flees from its mortal coil and flies to - who knows where?

We seldom give consideration to life and its meaning. As children we grow towards maturity, and in these travels the wonder and magic of life dims; it most often becomes tarnished, if not ruined. Life becomes routine as we get settled in, finding and embracing our significant other that offers a thrill that doesn't always last, we raise children which offers thrills of their own, but they grow up themselves and move on (and often away); we work towards retirement, enjoying these bright spots amidst the grayish and mundane hues of life, peppered with the dark blights of struggle, hardships, and broken-heartedness.

And in the end, we pass from this life, and tragically, hardly ever give any consideration to 'what it's all about' - until it's too late, and we're gone.

Are you feeling at all uncomfortable yet, reading this? I think we're meant to. But more than uncomfortable - bothered, haunted - with that ever present specter looming in the background, and every so often whispering to us, reminding us that death is just a breath away, always.

William Shatner, now at 90 years of age, confided in a few recent interviews that he has a nervous anticipation, and fear of death.
As of this morning, October 13th, 2021, he went on record as the oldest person ever to ascend into space, and he found it "the most incredible experience of my life. To see this vibrant, soft blue planet beneath us, and above the utter blackness of space. The contrast of life below and death above..."

All of this begs the question: What is life all about? What happens to us upon death?

Are we merely sacks of meat, full of bio-chemical substances that react to stimuli, and appropriate by evolutionary processes the mere illusions of thought, of self, of significance?

Or are we actually living souls, encased in bodies, that will forever exceed the existence of our 'flesh-cages'?

As as a biblical Christian, I whole-heartedly believe the latter - and because of this belief, based on the Holy Scriptures, I know what life is all about (that sounds a bit arrogant, but it's true).

The question hounded me through my teenage years. I realized that if I met life and apprehended it with gusto, I could achieve the greatest of success; or resign myself to passivity and live a modest or even meager existence. In the end, if we are merely 'sacks of meat' that become worm food, it doesn't matter either way; it means absolutely nothing at all.

Intuition screamed its conviction to the depths of my soul that this was not so. Even Yoda of Star Wars fame admonished young Jedi Luke Skywalker, "Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter". We are more, far more than flesh and blood. So what is life all about? Why are we here? What purpose does this world and our lives in it serve?

Life is about the ultimate choice that patiently waits for our approach, that fateful fork in life's road; some of us recognize that the One standing there is Mr. Truth. Truth is far more than a mere concept or philosophical abstract. Truth is a Living, Breathing Person Who embodies the very Deity that created all that we see - and don't see.

And while He created all things perfectly, it wasn't too long before the agent of evil crept in and spoiled it all, and corrupted that which was perfect.

And GOD allowed it - and many have asked, Why?

There are many answers to this question, but I think the primary one is to provide us, we who are Pilgrim Souls that traverse time and space in this finite world, that has as definitive a terminus as we ourselves, with a choice between life and death, between choosing to ally ourselves to either Mr. Truth or His opponent, Mr. Chaos.

You see, when GOD created all things, He created them in order, for He Who is the Creator, loves and establishes order - and this in accord with His very nature. The pollution of this order, resulting in chaos (that is growing exponentially in these last days) occurred when our First Parents decided to reject Mr. Truth's order, and side with Mr. Chaos and that plunged us into the miserable state that the human race has been burdened with ever since.

Again, from the play Hamlet: in this life we are destined "...to grunt and sweat under a weary life..."

Why allow such misery? I believe so that we may taste the bitterness, the baneful flavor of sin and all of its reckless powers to ruin and devastate. People will often curse GOD for their misfortunes, but are they laying blame to the right 'God'? 

It's not the Creator GOD that plunged us into this abject and forlorn existence - but rather at the coaxing and murmuring and false promises of Mr. Chaos ("the god of this world" 2 COR 4:4) - the serpent, the Devil that led us away from the perfect order of our Creator. It was our own sin from the beginning that opened this Pandora's Box of Perdition and Peril.

People protest and say that they had nothing to do with that choice - it isn't fair that we people, thousands of years after the fact, should have to suffer from the ill-fated choice of our First Parents!

Yet this choice in life that holds eternal consequences is before us; Mr. Truth has patiently awaited our approach, but since the terminus of this world is speedily coming upon us, and many are neglecting this ultimate choice in this temporary life, He is approaching every soul that has yet to make this decision between Truth and Chaos.

By choosing life, by making allegiance to Mr. Truth, we are promised to be delivered out from under the burden of this corruption and enter into life and blessing as GOD intended it!

DEUTERONOMY 30:19
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life...

We call JESUS our Redeemer, and for every good and excellent reason, for He is in process of redeeming all things: not just our souls, but one day these aging bodies; likewise the animal and plant kingdoms - all of the heavens and the earth as He tosses away the old and establishes the new - that will truly be as incorruptible as we ourselves shall be, and immune to sin and its dreadful consequences.

What must we do to be a part of this eternal world, this glorious kingdom that has such a King reigning over it? Let's hear from the King Himself, after He rose from the dead and spoke to some of His disciples:

LUKE 24:46-48
46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 And ye are witnesses of these things.

For some articles on '"the 'price' of admission" into the Kingdom of GOD, check these out:

A TTUF LOOK at REPENTANCE – WHAT IS IT and IS IT NECESSARY?

The SINNER'S PRAYER: Is It Biblical?

It's because Jesus Christ rose from the dead, after having borne our sins and the judgment associated with it, which should have fallen upon us, but was willingly received by this LAMB of GOD Who takes away the sin of the world (JOHN 1:29) - that His order in total, will be restored - and Mr. Chaos will at that time be promptly removed to receive the just and eternal punitive action that he is due.

Do you think it's just a figure of speech, that we are called "children of GOD"? Do you suppose that in the glories of heaven, we shall experience blessed and joyous fun as we've never before? Do you wonder at what life will truly be like once we step outside of this tainted space/time continuum and enter into the glorious eternity our Abba has prepared for us?

Whether by our own demise, when these failing bodies gasp their last breath, or at the sound of the trump when Christ returns to interrupt this satanic initiative of iniquity and comes to rule and reign forever, there is coming a day - Oh, Blessed Day! - when all of the chaos of corruption and the sorrowful seeds of sin that blossomed such baneful and deadly fruit in our lives will be utterly vanquished, destroyed and forgotten.

And every tear will be wiped away:

REVELATION 21:4
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

May those who are seeking Mr. Truth, recognize Him in the face of Jesus Christ, and understand that to navigate from this weary world to that wonderful world that must be seen to be truly believed (as in to comprehend). There is no other star to guide you other than the Morning Star* that shines most brilliantly just before the dawning of the New Day which He will usher in upon His (soon!) arrival!!

therefore choose life...

* This title of "Light Bearer" was once adorned upon GOD's mightiest and wisest of angelic cherubim, Lucifer, but since his rebellion, that title has been stripped from him and granted to the far more Worthy One, Jesus Christ (See REV 22:16).