Friends and family that know me can probably echo what I say next. I say, "The worst case scenario is that I did and go to Heaven! That's not bad at all!" I am not fatalistic but rather am eternity oriented. Things of this earth don't draw me as they used to before I met Jesus. I think for the Christian this is the normal. If you are not a Christian the orientation is different. When I came to know Jesus in October of 1972 my thoughts and focus changed. Sometimes I get "homesick" and long for that time when all pain, suffering, rejection and other negatives that surround us are gone and will NOT come back. Wow!
However, there are many amongst us who don't have a best case scenario. Because of choices they have what the earth gives them. It's nice to be clothed and fed as well as have the social circle they have. But, I remember that it was the cares of the world and my very messy past that brought me to the point of committing suicide. My focus was always on the immediate place and position I was in and with whom I was joined. That would have been my drugging and drinking buddies, family and others like bosses and enemies. Life was full of traps and trickery back then. There was nothing "up" in my world then. The pull of the world by and through those who were connected to me was overwhelming at times. My best case scenario that night in 1972 was to put a permanent end to what I saw as the "problem". Life.
My life after Christ was so different that I thought I was living in a foreign country (I was actually in Germany but I digress). You remember all those who were on the sinking ship with me? They all disappeared. Hmm... You know the one who is your friend until you run out of money. Yep, they were the ones. This event triggered thoughts along with the title of this blog. The worst that could happen was also the best that could have happened. Sometimes we need to sit down and ask ourselves this question: "Do the people in my life love my being whom I am or are they constantly trying to get me back into this or that situation where they are comfortable?" Simply put, "Do I have to give up me to be loved by you?" Cutting people loose from my life was a worst case scenario and again, a best case scenario.
At that one time in life I was carrying around the attitude of those around me. I saw people as expendable and so did they. People used each other and that was the rule and not the exception. Though the change of salvation was definitely a best case scenario, people who were attached to me saw that as a worst case scenario. Relationships that suck the life out of you aren't relationships at all. Everybody was a zombie back then. Most of us focus on what we had to lose before making a decision that alters our life. How would going to that job, marrying that person, becoming a Christian cost us in the transition?
Those whom were unable to adjust to my new life slowly disappeared. Sometimes it's only during the loss that we find those leaving us have any feelings at all. The years spent nursing a lifestyle that would not fulfill our needs echo back to us the years, events and options where those in our life intersected. We thought we knew people and they thought they knew us. The worst case scenario was all we knew. The best case scenario for the Christian is all they need to know. There are who have come and gone during my life. Some came and went leaving part of them with me. There were those who came and went taking part of me with them. The worst that could happen is for me to be a taker. The best case scenario was me being a giver. I've had to learn that lesson over and over with choices I have made.
I'm ready to go to heaven. There is no fear. There is only excitement in meeting Jesus to thank him for saving my life! Transitions will continue in my life and the lives of those who are around me. Their lives will change as well leaving some of them with me and I with them when it's time to move on. Life is about living your life for something and not against something. That question can only be answered by yourself. Why do we live? For whom would we die? A friend of mine gave me a line that puts things in perspective: "It's all good!" I can say that about most of my life and am still letting go of tat which I foolishly carry around with me.
The worst case scenario is what leads to the best case scenario.
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