In every city there is a dark side. I walked the fairways of one of the oldest golf clubs in Asia, awed by the beauty of the topical vegetation which combined itself with smiles and genuine enthusiasm in the people who lived there that was bathed in topical winds, rain, and sun. Everywhere you looked the greenery overwhelmed. The smells were of heaven itself. The bliss went on hole after hole through good play and rusty swings. I found myself mesmerized, wondering if there was anything that could spoil the scene. My dream touched reality about one third of the way into the experience.
It was on a far edge of the course. The tee box extended itself like a finger to the edge of a midnight blue-gray back water river full of life’s debris. With no ocean currents or redeeming movement, the tropical heat was cooking its own home brew. The color and smell said it all; life is often ugly and cruel. No matter what I had seen or would see the touch of reality that often hides underneath keeps my soul anchored in the reality of what each of us face everyday.
The contrast between being part of a something full of energy, support, and compassion and the reality in which you and I live is stark. Underneath the veneer of enduring the challenges that come our way is the source. What if we could eliminate the root problem and live in harmony, trust, and love? I have no illusions of this in today’s world. John saw something in which I hope and trust. “They’ll [The inhabitants will] bring the glory and honor of the nations into the City. Nothing dirty or defiled will get into the City, and no one who defiles or deceives.” (Revelation 21.26)
What is to come can be here today, if only between you and me. We can step out in trust, journey together in hope. It starts now, it starts with each. Heaven can be realized, if only underneath the grit and scum that surrounds us all.
