Awake

Posted On January 14, 2024

“Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead,
and Christ will give you light.”

Ephesians 5:14 NLT

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—
his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Romans 12:2 NIV

The beginning of a new year is a good time for a reset. A time to forget what’s happened in the past and focus on how God is leading us into the future. What if you woke up one day and couldn’t remember who you were? As disconcerting as that would be, it would also provide a unique opportunity for a fresh start. If we could somehow forget the baggage of our past and remove the distracting clutter from our minds, we would be free to truly embrace renewal and transformation. But to do so, we would have to choose carefully what should now fill our thoughts. So the question is: What should we plant in our minds to replace the mess? A reminder of what we believe would be a good place to start …

Our plan for 2024 is a new format that blends an ongoing fiction story with a devotional each week. Our current story is a science fiction tale I’ve named Awakening. It’s a story about faith, with a focus on the core beliefs of Christianity. This week, our adventure begins with Chapter 1. The focus is the importance of building a solid foundation of faith. To avoid confusion with the blended format, I am using colored boxes to set the story apart from the rest of the post. So, any text that has a colored background is part of the fictional story. And any text that does not, is not. Hopefully, that will help us keep everything straight. : )

The video below, which I shared last week, gives the Prologue for the story. I hope you enjoy Awakening!

Awakening
PART I – THE SHIP
Chapter 1: Awake

Personal Journal of (*NAME REDACTED*)
ICMC Training – Week 1
7 January 2318

“It is no good asking for a simple religion. After all, real things are not simple…. Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed. That is one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It is a religion you could not have guessed. If it offered us just the kind of universe we had always expected, I should feel we were making it up. But, in fact, it is not the sort of thing anyone would have made up.”
-C. S. Lewis

This quote by C. S. Lewis really spoke to me today. Obviously, with the discovery of a bridge to a new world, this is NOT the kind of universe we always expected. But it also spoke to me on a personal level. As I think about my life so far, it has not gone at all how I envisioned. But reading Lewis’s words reassured me that my faith journey will not be simple because my faith is not simple. Reality is complicated and Christianity is real. Therefore, Christianity is also complicated. I will face surprising twists and turns along the way. But no matter what happens, I can always remember that God is with me and He is in control.

It feels like God was telling me today: The universe is unlike anything you could have ever imagined, so get ready! You’re in for the adventure of your life …

“Open your eyes.”

The voice sounded tinny and far away, like something in a dream.  Was she dreaming?  Overwhelming sleepiness pressed upon her like a weight in her brain, and she started to drift off again …

“Open your eyes.  Wake up!”  The voice was louder now and more urgent.  “Listen to my voice.  I need you to open your eyes.”

Feeling disoriented and strange, she tried to comply.  Her eyelids seemed glued down.  She tried to speak.  I can’t, she wanted to say.  But her mouth didn’t seem to work either.  Starting to panic now, she felt her heart begin pounding in her chest.

“Calm down,” the metallic voice said.  “You’re okay.  You’re fine.  I just need you to open your eyes.”

She tried again.  A sliver of blinding light assaulted her right eye as she started to force it open.  Immediately, she squeezed her eyes shut to block out the light.  Too bright!  But the voice insisted again.  “Come on, you can do this.  Just open your eyes.”

She took a deep, unsteady breath and tried once more.  She reopened her right eye, just a bit, and let it begin to adjust to the light.  Then she willed her left eyelid to unglue itself and do the same.  After a few minutes, she was able to fully open both of them, and she stared up at rings of lights in a curved, transparent ceiling.  Where was she?

“That’s it.  Just breathe.  You’re okay.  Can you tell me your name?”

She tried again to speak.  “I …”  Her voice was just a raspy whisper.  “I … don’t …”  What was her name?  She tried to think, but she couldn’t.  Her mind felt full of cobwebs.   She felt so strange.  What’s going on?  Where am I?

“Your name,” the voice repeated.  “Do you know your name?”

“I can’t … I …“  Why couldn’t she think of it?  She attempted to search her memory, but she couldn’t think straight.  “I can’t remember,” she finally admitted.  Starting to feel panicky again, she tried to sit up.  The lights encircling her started to spin as a wave of dizziness washed over her, and she was forced to lie back down.

“Easy, easy.  It’s okay.  Just lie still for now.”  The voice continued to speak reassuringly.  “There’s no need to worry.  Memory loss is a common side effect of the cryogenic process, but it’s only temporary.  Everything will come back to you in time.  Right now, you just need to stay focused on your recovery.”

Recovery?  Cryogenic process?  Instantly, she felt cold and began to shiver.

“You’ve just awakened from cryostasis.  Give your body time to adapt as you come out of it.  I will adjust the temperature in the pod to make you more comfortable.  Just relax.”

The air around her grew warmer and her shivering stopped.  She felt a little better.  Slowly, she turned her head and looked through the transparent pod to the room beyond.  It was a small medical bay filled with machinery.  Everything looked strange but also familiar somehow.  “Where am I?” she asked.

“You’re safe.  I promise the answers are coming, but right now you need to rest.  Just relax and let your body recover.”

She took a deep breath and tried to relax.  She had no choice but to trust whomever it was that was speaking to her.  “Who are you?” she asked.

“You can call me Michael.”

Michael was older than she had pictured from the metallic voice speaking to her.  He was strong and muscular, but his hair was white, and his face was etched with lines.  And there was something vaguely familiar about him. Did she know him? Maybe. She still couldn’t remember much. After an hour or so of recovery in the med bay, he had helped her get settled in her quarters, and then he’d left her alone with orders to rest. Orders she had no intention of following. Now that she was finally awake and alert, she wanted to learn all she could.

Her room wasn’t much different from the med bay. It was metallic and sterile, with a bed resembling something you’d find in a hospital room. It had display screens instead of windows and there were monitors — she didn’t know for what — on either side of the bed. She located a small washroom stocked with basic toiletries and some fresh clothes. She quickly cleaned up and changed into one of the form-fitting jumpsuits provided. Was it a uniform of some kind? Maybe, but there was no insignia. She could be in a military installation or … Wait. It also resembled … could it be a spacesuit? Was she in space? There was gravity, so probably not … unless the ship had artificial gravity. She really had to find out what was going on.

On the opposite end of the room was a small desk with a computer terminal. Michael hadn’t told her much so far, but he did say that there was information for her on the computer when she was ready. She was ready. She went to the computer and discovered a single file accessible to her: It was an audio recording simply titled “Play Me.” She played it back and heard Michael’s voice:

Hello, Faith. That’s not your real name, but it may not be safe now to use real names. You may have already guessed that my name’s not really Michael, but I promise that you can trust me. I don’t know how long it will take for your memories to come back, but when they do, I would advise you to keep the details of your past life as secret as possible. In the meantime, here is what you need to know.

You are on the planet Helios Prime 3. Of course, no one here really calls it that. We just call it Nova. As in Terra Nova, Latin for New Earth. We got here through the Bridge — a wormhole that appeared on the edge of our solar system about a hundred and twenty years ago. You were in cryostasis for the journey, and, well, let’s just say that things didn’t go exactly as planned. We can go into all that later, but for now, the most important thing to know is that the wormhole is gone. We are stranded here. Everyone is.

The Bridge collapsed shortly after we came through. No one really knows why, but there are plenty of theories. And one of them has to do with you, which is why we need to keep you hidden for the time being. I can’t really explain right now, but I can at least tell you this much: We came here as representatives of the ICMC. Sorry, I guess you probably don’t remember what that is. It stands for Interplanetary Christian Missions Church. We were … are … missionaries. But a lot has happened since then, and we need to keep a low profile for now. Please trust me on this.

Once you’ve finished listening to this recording, you will have access to what remains of your notes and training materials. I’m afraid some files were lost in transit. Sorry, it was a bit of a bumpy ride. But I recovered what I could. For safety, I had the computer remove all records of your real name from the files. Studying them may help you regain your memory faster. And it’s vital that you prepare for what lies ahead. I’m sorry, I wish I could tell you more. But I don’t want to rush it. You are too important. And it’s better if you let your memories come back on their own.

I have faith that they will. Please try not to worry. I have faith in God’s plan. And I have faith in you.

After the recording ended Faith sat for a moment, trying to process everything she had just heard. That must be why Michael had seemed familiar to her. Apparently, they knew each other from before. She was a missionary? She let that thought turn over in her mind for a minute. Yes, that felt right to her. She could see that. But she still didn’t remember Michael. He said she could trust him, and she decided to believe him. She had no reason not to. But how well did they really know each other? Was he a friend, or just someone she worked with? And what was he not telling her? This nagging memory loss was like an itch in her brain that she needed to scratch.

She decided to take Michael’s advice and dive in to her studies. Maybe it would help. If not, it certainly wouldn’t hurt. And if she had important work to do, she better get started. She scanned the list of files now available to her. There were notes from her ICMC training as well as some personal journal entries. Unsure where to begin, she decided she may as well start at the beginning and opened a file named “Journal Entry ICMC Training Week 1.”

Personal Journal of (*NAME REDACTED*)
ICMC Training – Week 1
7 January 2318

… And as followers of Christ tasked with sharing His message, we must continually remind ourselves of what we believe. C. S. Lewis said that we must train the habit of faith:

“The first step is to recognise the fact that your moods change. The next is to make sure that, if you have once accepted Christianity, then some of its main doctrines shall be deliberately held before your mind for some time every day. That is why daily prayers and religious reading and church going are necessary parts of the Christian life. We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed.”
-C. S. Lewis

This has been an amazing week! I’ve already learned so much, and we’re just getting started. In keeping with C. S. Lewis’s directive, I’m going to do my best to keep up with this journal, because I remember things much better when I write them down. And I don’t want to forget what’s important.

After reviewing all of my notes from this week’s lessons and thinking about how they have (or have not) been applied in my own life, I’ve determined that these are the fundamentals: We live in a surprising, complicated universe. A solid foundation of faith is essential to building anything that lasts. Loving God includes loving Him with our minds. And we must be continually reminded of what we believe.
-CM

Faith stared at the initials at the end of the journal entry: CM. Michael said records of her identity had been removed from her files, but the computer must have missed this. CM. Is that who she was? It must be. Nothing was coming back to her yet, but she still had a lot of files left to sort through. She would keep digging. As she looked at all the file names on the screen, trying to decide what to read next, she felt a little overwhelmed. There were so many! But Michael’s words kept replaying in her mind: It’s vital that you prepare for what lies ahead. You are too important. She had no idea what he meant by that. And if she hoped to find out, she better press on …

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
~Matthew 22:37 GNT

Loving God includes loving Him with your mind. As God’s child, you should long to learn as much as you can about your heavenly Father. In doing so, you discover more about His ways and His will for your life. His thoughts are infinitely higher than yours, so you will never understand Him fully in this life, but you should strive to understand Him better today than you did yesterday. And you should continually remind yourself of what you believe.

You have important work to do in God’s kingdom. But building a solid foundation is essential before you can build anything else. A firm understanding of the core beliefs of your faith, and a strong dedication to their application in your life, is essential if you want to build something that will last. And a solid foundation is necessary for withstanding the storms that will invariably come.

The universe is unlike anything you could have ever imagined! And it is vital to prepare for whatever lies ahead. A faith that’s asleep is of no use to anyone. Let the Holy Spirit awaken your mind, refresh your soul, and transform your heart.

– – – – – – – – – –
Excerpt from FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH
25th anniversary ed., Helios Publishers, 240 AN (2476 AD)

“As you study God’s attributes, or read about the atoning work of Jesus Christ, or contemplate the work of the Holy Spirit, you will begin to lay the groundwork — the theological foundation — for a life that will please God and make a difference in your corner of the world.”

Introduction to the Portable Seminary

This week’s Scripture passages remind us that sometimes we need a reset. The Bible has the power to awaken us to the Holy Spirit’s renewing and transforming power in our lives, and it’s vital that we prepare for what lies ahead. We have important work to do! As we clear the clutter from our minds and focus instead on learning more about the God that we serve, we start constructing a firm foundation of faith that we can build upon. Let’s make a commitment to learn a little more about Him each day so that He can use us to shine His Light into the universe!

“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Glory belongs to him both now and forever. Amen.”

2 Peter 3:18 NIRV

References:

• Horton, David, and Ryan Horton, editors. The Portable Seminary, Bethany House, 2006.
• Lewis, C. S. “Mere Christianity.” The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics, Harper San Francisco, 2002, pp. 1-177.

Images & Audio:

• Images created using Midjourney Bot AI image generator, midjourney.com
• Audio clips from mixkit.co