Future Tripping

WindRumers.com September 21, 2007
Future Tripping and the Presence of Joy (Peace)
William P. Young

"The reason that ‘Peace’ is in the title of this post, is
because for some of us the issue of ‘peace’ in our lives is
more tangible and crucial right now than the presence of
‘joy’. So wherever you see the word ‘joy’ please feel free
to substitute the word ‘peace’, not because they are the
same but because every thing I want to say about ‘joy’
equally applies to ‘peace’.

First, let me explain the term ‘future tripping’. I love
good science fi ction writing. A book like Perelandra, by
CS Lewis, or Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card…they
just take me someplace where the imagination is allowed
to roam more freely than in most other literary genres.
Some folks think such writing is silly and adolescent…oh
well…sorry. I will tell you that Orson Scott Card’s book,
Speaker for the Dead, taught me more about conducting
a funeral than anything else I have ever read (but that’s
another story).

I’ve been thinking I could make a good case that
every human being is a science fi ction writer; that
we each develop an incredibly powerful ability to
create imaginations of the future, usually our own.
Unfortunately, we are almost as good at horror or
tragedy; our imaginations of the future are rife with
catastrophes and difficulties.

A little more than two years ago, ‘Joy’ became my
constant companion rather than an occasional
acquaintance. Th is was totally unexpected and more
than a little remarkable. Many times in my life I had
experienced Joy dropping in, ’surprising me’, and
then leaving…sometimes within a couple days, but
usually within hours or minutes. I loved the visits but
instinctively knew that Joy must have other (probably
better) things to do but had stopped by long enough to
bless me with a touch of encouragement in a difficult
time, or a taste of something wonderful when the world
seemed particularly grey and fl avorless. Usually the
sudden presence of Joy had no rhyme or reason, at least,
not that I could tell…a surprise visitor who was always
welcome, slept in the guest bedroom and was normally
gone before the fi rst light of day, bed made up, a note
that said ‘thank you’ and ’see you again soon’.

But to ‘move in’ and stay…that was unexpected. For
the fi rst six months I was a little on edge about the
whole ‘new’ relationship. It seemed that it would be
rather rude to simply ask, “Okay, why exactly are you
still here?” Perhaps, I was a little apprehensive that
such a question would remind Joy that there were more
important things to do than hang around me, and off Joy
would go. But I liked it…the presence of Joy…a lot!

So what happened? Why had Joy decided to stick
around and permeate my every day, even the really tough
gut wrenching ones? Even as I write this, Joy is standing
just over my shoulder, leaning on me just enough so that
I know… and watching (with a grin) what I am writing.
Okay…I am nuts, that must be it! But I am not…so back
to my question. What happened?

As I mulled this incongruity over and talked with friends
and family I began to understand part of the reason
for Joy’s permanence in my life. A couple of years ago,
I decided to stop ‘future tripping’. ‘Future Tripping’ is
‘taking thought for tomorrow’, it is creating imaginations
of what is going to happen and then actually take a
mental and emotional trip to live there for a bit. It is

‘what am I going to do if _________ (fi ll in the blank),
what am I going to say if __________, what would
our family go through if _____________.

I confess to you that I have experienced many un-realities

and their attendant emotions this way. I have repeatedly

suffered huge financial losses, ended up living under one of the
city bridges, been abandoned by my family, suff ered the
loss of each of my children, had my closest friends turn
out to be villains, embarrassed myself in public, was put
on the spot and said something stupid, been to my own
funeral (more than once), unsuccessfully tried to stop
something horrible from happening, failed repeatedly
to live up to somebody’s expectations, been horribly
maimed in every kind of imaginable accident known to
man, lost all my teeth, lost every job I ever had, came
down with every disease possible, regularly looked
like an idiot, got my lights punched out for no reason,
explained my driving to a police offi cer, lost my friends,
went to school and found out I wasn’t wearing anything,
got mugged, imagined the situation that I currently was
in was permanent…that nothing could ever or would
ever change……you get the idea.

I have written volumes of imaginations in my own head,

things that have no substance, no reality, and are empty,

vain imaginations. But I treat them as if they are real.

I feel all kinds of terrifying and horrible emotions, and

scramble to control my life so that these imaginations

won’t actually come to pass. THESE IMAGINATIONS ARE

NOT REAL!!!! But I had spent most of my life in or around
them. GOD DOES NOT DWELL IN ANYTHING
THAT IS NOT REAL!!! In these imaginations, Papa
is conspicuously absent. Why? Because Papa has no
interest in living inside something that isn’t even real
to begin with. So in my ‘vain’ empty imaginations, I
am the only ‘god’ there is. I have to fi x things, make
sure things turn out right, try to get a handle on people
and events…and frankly, I do a very poor job of it…this
playing god thing. So, my life tended to be gripped by
fear and I worked hard to get some ‘control’ to prevent
these imaginations that I feared. I had a habit of treating
something that had no reality or substance as if it were
truly real.

A couple years ago I stopped this insanity. And here
is what I discovered. JOY has a name. Joy is not only
a fruit of the Spirit of God, but a manifestation of the
presence of the very ‘real’ Jesus who dwells inside of us.
In fact, JOY had ‘never’ left me at all; it was me that
continually left Joy, to run into some imagined future
and resultant fear. It had never been Joy that was the
occasional acquaintance… it was me that had been the
visitor.

For two years now I have stayed inside the confi nes of
the grace that is for ‘today’. Today is where Papa dwells
with me; today is where ‘eternity’ intersects my life,
and even when I get to tomorrow, it is still ‘today’ when
I get there. If grace, in part, is what energizes me to
sense Papa’s presence, to hear his voice… I was obviously
wasting what grace was given me for the ‘real’ day on
imaginations that weren’t even real, had no substance
and were empty (every vain imagination that raises itself
up against the knowing of God).

Do I make plans for tomorrow? Sure, but they are held
loosely and with an open hand… and I don’t live there.
I live in his present(ce), which is TODAY. How many
times are Grace and Peace, or Grace and Joy linked
together in the New Testament? If you try and hoard
up grace for more than the Day, you will end up with
something that is rotting and can’t be lived on. If you
run away to empty imaginations you will neither sense
his present(ce) or hear his voice.

I read Joy’s blog the other day, and it began…” A couple
years ago Willie became my constant companion rather
than an occasional acquaintance…” Sweeeeeet! "