Jesus said to the Jews:
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever keeps my word will never see death.”
Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
before Abraham came to be, I AM.”
~ John 8:51,59
I come into this world, am given a number of years to live and then I move on and am gone. The world was before I came and it will be after I leave. In the span of my years, I touch and am touched by the lives of other people, by the places I visit and the events I participate in. And those are what make up my life.
In the US, where I now live, people often (always?) want to be in control. Things are planned and then made to happen according to those plans. Climate is changing and people want to mitigate that and are willing to change their lifestyles to make it happen. Oil prices soar and people develop and use alternative sources of energy.
In the Philippines, where I am now visiting, people often (always?) live within the situation they find themselves. It is a corrupt and rotten political and economic system out there, how can I survive in such a situation without getting corrupted or rotten? There are no opportunities? People use their ingenuity to make ends meet, often (always?) to the point to breaking or bending the rules.
In either situation, I find myself often (always?) wanting to live forever. Whatever I do and Whoever I become cannot just fade away to be forgotten. Somehow, I know and feel and want to go on forever. And at the source of that want and desire for eternal life is the parallel realization that I must have somehow existed before I came to live this life I am now living.
These are thoughts that I have often and always entertained and mulled about.