Excerpts from upcoming book, Ascend to The Secret Place

        I first published this article in 2013 as an excerpt from my upcoming book,
Ascend to The Secret Place. The below is a newly improved version. Enjoy.

                                                           Perspective

I can see it.

I had been given directions from a  trusted source; therefore, I plugged the information into my navigation system and drove for about twenty miles when I began to doubt the quality of my directions. It seemed that I should have already have reached my destination.

Something encouraged me to turn around but I said no. I trusted the source of my information. As I ventured further into the unknown, the annoyance continued, "turn around."

I refused to turn around because nothing had changed in my navigation system to convince me that the source of my information was wrong. I understood that fear of the unknown was trying to inhabit a home but I refused to accept fear and remained on the path of my course, although, I had some doubt. I also had the faith of a mustard seed which compelled me to continue.

I saw from a great distance what appeared to be the end of a road.

"See. I told you. You should have turned around." 

I continued driving, telling myself that either I believed or I did not.

 I believed.

 As I neared the end of the road, I saw that the terrain was shaping into a steep hill. From a distance the image had appeared to be the end of the road. The image of the end sat upon the horizon and nothing seemed to exist beyond it except the elements of nature: skies, mountains or water. As I climbed the hill, reaching the top, I realized the image had not been a dead end at all, just a very high hill. From the distance, I had seen the bottom of the hill, not a dead end.

Suddenly, I realized there was a continuing road on the other side of the hill. From a far distance, I could not perceive this reality, for the hill at a distance is greater that the vision of man. Only God could have known the reality of both places: the vision of the man and the other side of the hill.

There was another path on the other side of the hill that extended for miles. I was happy to realize that I had not been lost, at all.

Much of life is this way. Every major goal we pursue in life, takes us along this narrow road. Every obstacle to every major dream is designed to challenge your faith in this way. These experiences constitute the seed of our convictions. They determine who we really are. This process of life test our beliefs by taking the Christian from the four walls of the church, removes the Buddhist from the four walls of the temple, removing theory into practice that we may do and be that which we claim to believe.

 Maybe you are suffering some form of loss: divorce, loss of a job or income and feel isolated. Maybe there was a relationship you really wanted and it did not seem to work out. When we lose something we feel we need, we sometimes feel at the end of the road. When we mourn a loss we sometimes feel we have reached a dead end but I am here to bear witness that there are no dead ends with God. He has a greater perspective. He sees both the bottom of the hill and the top. He sees the hills and the valleys. He sees our limited perspective as his wisdom hovers over the center of the earth. It only seems like a dead end to us because we are at a distance, because we lack the perspective of omnipresence. God is close to everything and has always been close because he created the hills and the mountains. He remembers the mountain when it was but a grain of sand floating in water. It is he who caused the water and sand to coalesce into rock. He caused the rocks to gather to form mountains.He knows the nature of the mountain and the nature of man. He sees both the weakness of the mountain and the limited point of view of man...at once.

The next time you feel you are looking at a dead end, stop and ask #God what is it that you are really looking at. Don't trust your eyes. They can be deceiving. Your eyes are limited by the combination of your experience and your current volume of knowledge.  The greater you is found in a land you have yet to experience, subject to the interpretation of knowledge you have not yet acquired. God knew it was not a dead end even when I doubted. It was he who convinced me to continue driving.

Faith works that way. It is the subjected of calculated risk, not an irresponsible shot in the dark; calculated because we are given impetus in the spirit, an impeccably accurate account of things to come.

Much of life is that way. When we see what we think is a dead end but we must call on God to describe that which we see as well as that which we cannot see. It is in this spirit of humility that we advance. Forget what is whispered in you ear if it stands against the promise of God, and is contrary to your faith. That's how we know whether what we hear is from God. Does it line up with God's promise?   Is the suggestion based on fear or upon faith? Because we are made in the image of God, the greater reality is greater than that which the eye beholds and when we discover the nature of God, for the first time, we discover who we really are, a reality that compels us to fulfill our destiny. His reality is always greater. If we turn around due to doubt we will never see the path on the other side.