I wrote this once after watching The Matrix. written originally to a girl i was dating at the time...

Can you see how much our life is really like the Matrix? Except, change all the little articificial intelligences with the devil. He all too often has us believing this lie of the world around us. He's manipulated this great "environment" for us to live in (for satan is the prince of this world) (or something like that)...and we get so caught up in this environment, in all the many things to do and see and experience...we're so transfixed by the things of this world, that we lose sight of the greater spiritual world, where things happen for eternity, where lives are at stake for eternity...yet we're too busy worrying about what we're going to do this weekend or this month or this year that we're oblivious to the reality of eternal significant things going on all around us all the time...much like all the humans are oblious to the fact, in the matrix, that they're being pacified by a program that gives them comfort, when in reality they're just power sources for artificial intelligences...

and there -is- this greater power too...God offers us so much, and has equiped us with so much, to further his kingdom and thwart satan's plans....He's given us the Holy Spirit as we learned about on sunday...who can teach and guide us into all things...much like those programs they used to learn kung fu and how to fly a helicopter...the Holy Spirit can use us, and our bodies, to go into satan's strongholds...that's one reason i think God wants to use us as His temples...so He's not just residing in power in one place but in many...but how often do we actual offer God a body pure and holy enough for Him to reside in...

plus the fact He's given us all these tools, these gifts to use in the fight to save souls from Hell...all these blessings that we're supposed to be using, to bless others in the church, but much more so to bless others not saved...all with the goal of bringing them back to God...

man, if only i could have a bit of this perspective every day as i walk...i just laid there after watching the movie, listening to rage against the machine...and thought about how much i've been missing out on this battle...i rarely, if ever, see the world as God does...like Neo when he finally could see the matrix for what it was, and use that to his advantage...i was thinking how awesome it would be to be able to see, every time we meet someone near, every person that passes us on the highway, every person we brush past in the mall...if we could see what God saw, the battles being fought in their life...the firey darts satan was throwing at them, and what God was doing in response in hopes that they might all be saved...there are so many battles...6 billion people on this planet...and how many thousands we cross paths with every day...how many of those lives do we actually touch?....how many should we? what are God's plans for us for reaching those?....you know, i'd like to think God's plan for me wasn't just to be a nice, compassionate, friendly doctor that cares geniunely for his patients, and uses his gifts, knowledge, medical skill to help those who may not otherwise get it...that's not God's ultimate goal for me...it may be a tool He's going to use along the way...all this stuff, it's just stuff...they're never the ultimate...i mean, dang...as much as i love you...that's not one of the "ultimates" either...true, so very true, it's a blessing, and knowing you has made my life so much better, and more fun to live and adds so much more joy to my life, etc etc...and even some of these other things in this "environment" we live in...many are blessings from God...but may we never focus so much on the blessings that we lose sight of eternity...

well...i guess it's not like i just figured all that out, i've seen/learned/thought about most all that before...and much of it may be wrong, i don't know (this was typed directly after watching the movie, with my thoughts still churning)...but i wanted to get down my thoughts in one of these rare, seemingly "clear" moments of clarity...i'll probably wake up in the morning and be back in my little box of a world, rarely taking notice of the big picture, the eternal picture...i mean...i'd like to think right now, that if i saw this clearly all the time, i'd never fall into sin, because i'd see it for what it was, ask God to do His thing, and just never fall, never let sin establish its power....but i rarely see this clearly, and i get so caught up in self and this little boxy environment around me, that God gets pushed to a back corner of the mind, making the way clear for sin to set up shop....

how can one live with this clarity? this "big picture" mentality that sees with God's eyes, that's in on God's major plan, His Will, His Purpose, His Vision...is it even possible? or are we just allowed little glimpses here and there? that seems to be the case most often...just little glimpses of light, giving us just enough to make it to the next splash of light in the darkness....but is this just the way God does it cause of the way we live? Would He ever give us a clearer picture if we lived more closely in step with His? My immediate thought is no...cause of all these examples of the Bible where people were just told to "go", or simply to "follow me", or to wait 40 days in jerusalem for His Spirit, or to walk 7 times around the walls, or to take 5 stones and go fight the giant...My next thought is that's just too bad...it'd seem so much easier if we were in on the "secret" as it were...would not the fight be much easier? But i guess that's where, inevitably, faith and obedience comes in...God still wants us to be faithful and obedient, and i guess these periods of darkness are prime ways to excercise things like faithfulness and obedience, but not only that, they're good times for the fruits of the spirit to be poured...goodness shines much more brightly in darkness, as does patience, gentleness, self-control, etc...and hopefully these are poured out on others...because, i guess too...those who live in darkness, are just that...living in darkness....and maybe these periods of darkness (ie times without clarity)...maybe they help us reach those in the darkness more effectively...giving us opportunity to point out the places of light, the One Source of light and life....