- Not The Only One!
- Post# 128
- 11 Apr 24 “
- Same Bat Channel- Same Bat Time”
- Howdy!,
- Back in the day , before Keaton, Clooney, Bale , and Mr. JAYLO☺️☺️, I grew up with Adam West as Batman, he wasn’t the original or the first actor to play that role, but he is the one most closely related to ” same bat channel, same bat time” There have actually been almost a dozen different Dark Knights over the years and the first would take you back the 1940s and a gentleman by the name of Lewis G. Wilson. Batman is a fictional character , much like James Bond and they will occasionally freshen up the role☺️☺️. As I said I grew up during the Adam West era , in later years he was known for being the voice of the mayor on the Simpsons. He was one of those actors that played a role so well, that he became typed cast and that was all that people could see him playing was Batman. If you were a kid in the late sixties, then you were probably all to familiar with “Same Bat Channel- Same Bat Time. The show only ran for three seasons, 66 to 68, but lived on in reruns forever. Things were way different Back then with our three basic channels☺️☺️. There were no VCRS, DVRS , or such thing like that. If you missed your favorite show, your next best shot at seeing it was during the summer reruns….nope, no such thing as on demand either ☺️☺️☺️☺️. The thing was about ratings, just like today, with a lot less competition. So the key was consistency and usually a bit of a cliff hanger to keep you coming back again and again ☺️.
- Have you ever found yourself doing the same Bat Channel and same Bat Time thing , when it comes to life? I just kind of jumped into this one , because I wanted to dig in just a little. This may apply to yourself or someone that you know and possibly close to You, because it sometimes works that way, and for me it was ….someone close. We have all seen or know of someone who seems to just not able to get out of their own way. They seem to make the same bad choices or decisions , time and time again. Often they will know that something is a midst. They may even take time off in between events to try and get a handle on it, but somehow still manage to come up empty. This usually evolves around relationships or finances, but it could be almost anything else at all including wrestling with diet and food, or something else in life that may require some form of discipline and discernment in life.
- This is one of those things that I have dealt with myself somewhere in my past, and with my ability to have huge blind spots in my life, it may still exist on some level ☺️☺️. However this particular one, I have nailed down to some degree, but still very much still a work in progress and I will double back to that in a bit.☺️. Have you ever seen or ever been the person who hovers around faith and just never seems to do more than come to the edge and just stick your toe in. It’s always just a toe, not even the same toe, but always just a toe☺️☺️. There will be no cannon balls or leaps from the high platform, it’s always just a toe☺️
- I’ve always been completely fascinated by skittles worshippers. They are like taste the rainbow ☺️☺️. Skittle worshippers is something I use to refer to people who play roulette when it comes to faith. They can tell you about all of the different religions that they have dabbled in, and sometimes it looks like something close to a person’s job resume who does a whole bunch of job hoping ☺️☺️. They use to be Mormon or Baptist, Muslim, catholic or just pick one out of thin air☺️☺️. They may or may not be one of those people running around with one of those bumper stickers that says co-exist ☺️. I sometimes wonder about what goes into the mindset that something spiritual could be interchangeable like underwear that has the different days of the week printed on them.☺️☺️.
- However, these aren’t the one’s that I’m talking about . I’m referring to the one’s who will constantly stand at the sidelines, like they are about to go into the game, but then remember that cleats don’t allow that single one toe to be exposed ☺️☺️. They are almost always respectful of other people’s choices to engage, but simultaneously remind themselves that it’s not for themselves. They may attend a service, a wedding, a baptism or Christening , a Bat Mitzvah., or some other religious celebration and never take the time to be curious as to the significance behind the service. These also maybe people if you looked into a dictionary and looked up the word cynical or skeptical and there would be a picture of them ☺️☺️, more like a portrait ☺️☺️.
- If I was to do a FBI profile on them, they would usually be people with slightly above average intelligence . They would probably be in some profession that requires education beyond high school. They have usually achieved some level of success in life and by all outwards observations doing quite well in life. They may be well traveled, speak multiple languages and achieved a lot of accomplishments away from their profession as well, but feel completely empty inside. They often wonder why the next great accomplishment doesn’t bring them fulfillment in life. They may think to themselves if I could just find the right partner in life, or have a child or some other grand life altering event, and still be just missing the contentment bar “happiness factor “, they are always off and chasing the next thing in life. We all make gaffs in our journey but, they may be extremely well at rationalizing why things have worked out for them in life the way that they have , and they usually bare little to no responsibility for what has taken place. There favorite go to may sound something like S_ _ _ ! Happens ☺️☺️. If things go well in life then it was the result of something that they directly did, and if it’s a not so much! , then somehow the cosmos is against them ☺️☺️
- I believe that God is a gracious and always trying to get ours attention and wanting to interact with us. We often may encounter God through nature, such as a beautiful sunrise or sunset , the grandeur of the grand canyon, it could be the birth of a child or animal, or even the much talked about eclipse. These are all things that are supposed to point us to the Creator , and they don’t speak of their own glory, but of God’s ☺️☺️. I am not saying that God causes bad things to happen in life, but He completely uses those things and other circumstances in life to make Himself known to us.
- People who gravitate towards but only choose to hoover around things of a spiritual nature, often miss God’s attempts to reveal Himself to them. These very self confident toe dippers will often take credit for or attempt to explain away things that can only be accredited to God. When a car goes off the road , down into a ravine and becomes so mangled that it’s unrecognizable and the occupants have to be excavated with the jaws of life from the vehicle, and walks away without a scratch on them, then that is God making His providential protection known. We could say that they were lucky or praise the car manufacturer and its safety features, but when we choose to take that path, we rob God of His glory and miss an opportunity to show gratitude and to connect with Him. I would challenge you that every time a baby is born and is healthy with all of its fingers and toes that it’s a miracle. ☺️I think that the miraculous things that God does in our lives or displays in nature are common place to us, thus they go often unnoticed and definitely unappreciated. We don’t often appreciate or say thank You to God, but we are consistently awesome at complaining, when the things that we take for granted, doesn’t go according to plan or our apple cart somehow becomes upset ☺️☺️.
- I will confess to being a little bit of a control freak, but nothing like the toe dippers who feel as if that every single moment of their lives is orchestrated by themselves ☺️☺️. They will often experience anxiety over the things in life that are uncertain and beyond their control, they want a magical guarantee ☺️☺️This makes them feel completely dysfunctional and they will usually nick pick at other parts of life to distract themselves from the fact that they aren’t actually in control. I’m beyond amazed at how certain individuals in some of the most technical of fields can just research the hell out of* algorithm , or some other complicated equation, but do very little to nothing to dig in and find out about what God says about Himself. They will chant the mantra that faith is is blind, superstitious or only for the weak minded in life. They will make comments about faith that actually demonstrates how little they know about faith and tought scripture references that they have never read for themselves. Their lead in will be doesn’t it say this or say that ? While all along having no actual clue , and not wanting to get one☺️☺️. I have asked often, but failed to get an answer to why would you not just examine the evidence for faith? . Why not give it the same scrutiny and study that they did for that advance degree that they have and are so proud of?☺️
- I know for myself that I will shy away from the unknown, things that I’m unsure about. That hasn’t always been the case in life and I have rushed head on into foolish places that God’s mighty angels would fear to thread☺️☺️. That might be a slight exaggeration, but I have done a lot of not bright things and many were scary, but they became less scary with greater understanding. Getting to know God can absolutely be scary, but not usually for the reasons that one might think. The scariest part of getting to know God, well at least for me was the trusting and the letting go. See, if He is in control, then that means that I’m not. If this is true, then it means that those very self and over confident people are actually cowards and extremely insecure☺️☺️. How can you tie a cord or rope around your leg and bungee jump off a bridge and then stick your head in the sand to avoid having an encounter with the living God? It’s often about pride. Pride and pride in ourselves is usually the hugest stumbling block to coming to knowing and having a relationship with God. I know for myself that there are dozens of opportunities for me each day to be set a part a to do things God’s way or my way. I wish that I could tell you that I was flawless at this process, but that is just so far from the truth. It could be something small like letting someone go before me in the grocery check out or allowing someone to merge in traffic. These are seemingly small or minute decisions and if I let pride and selfishness affect and influence those things, then you can see, when, where and how it can be difficult to make God honoring and God surrendering decisions at other times, and on the big things in life that actually matter a whole bunch more☺️☺️.
- I want to offer up or introduce another piece of the puzzle that we often miss, overlook, fail to consider, and I know for myself just don’t like to deal with. This is the thing, me not wanting to deal with or wanting to acknowledge it, doesn’t make it any less real , and to all none believers of God , the very same principle applies. There is something known as spiritual warfare. There are battles raging all around us everyday and for most people , we are completely oblivious to it. Just because we can’t see it with our physical eyes, doesn’t make it any less real…..just like God. There is a huge percentage of people who don’t believe in the physical existence of hell as a place and this is also true amongst evangelicals, which honestly to me is a bit of a head scratcher ☺️☺️. Personally I find it unsettling, and maybe my position is much like when men don’t like going to the doctor. We don’t want to know if something is wrong and if we ignore it, then on some level then it doesn’t exist ☺️☺️☺️. Thus here today, gone tomorrow ☺️☺️. I was just talking to him and he just killed over and died☺️☺️. Just because we don’t acknowledge it doesn’t mean that there isn’t a deadly cancer or something else growing inside of us. I don’t have the time today to tell you about some specifics of spiritual warfare that I have experienced myself, but I do have a few scary stories and perhaps at another time when I’m not running long. The thing that I do want to focus on real quick, is if you are one of those toe dipper folks who just never seems to be able to figure out what all of the fuss is about when it comes to an invisible God who wants to be known, then I want to let you know that there are forces unseen to You that has a vested interest in keeping you from having a meaningful relationship with God and you knowing him on a personal level. You should just know that the next time you find yourself hovering around something or someone spiritual, that there are literally forces who want to block your understanding of what is being said or expressed. The next time you are in some service and you feel God’s presence tugging at your heart, just know that there are forces that have restraints on you holding you back and you are smack dab in the middle of a tug of war. You may receive a glimmer of understanding, such as what it means to fear God, and those unseen forces will cause you to question and doubt what you just received. They will seek to distort God’s truth and make it mean something completely different from what God intended for you to have. Your mind is a battlefield and there are battles played out there each and everyday. I used the word “vested”, so what is at stake? These unseen forces are actually in war over your heart and soul. The stakes are high!, what price could or would you put on your soul? I want to encourage you from being a toe dipper and to go all in , and see how God will transform your life away from being stuck doing the same Bat Channel thing☺️☺️.
- One last little caveat, I honestly believe that once we get past our pride, fear of what others may think of us, and our fierce allegiance bent towards independence. The biggest obstacle is hypocrites or hypocrisy ☺️☺️. Everyone who says that they are a child of God, is not. Some don’t realize that they aren’t and even the ones who are, don’t always do a bang up job of representing God. So, if you work with them, date them , go to school with them, see them out at restaurants or shopping, just remember that they are broken and sinful people as well. I think the consensus is that they would be perfect, but no perfect people on this side of heaven. Don’t let them keep you from escaping the “Same Bat Channel, same bat time syndrome, because they are subject to spiritual warfare as well , and we are all born with a God size hole , that only God can fit perfectly in .
- Till Next Time ✌️Peace!
- Sandy The Southerner
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