Saturday Song: The Electric Light Orchestra, "Mr. Radio"

To most people, a radio is just a box which plays music or gives news reports. They have only a vague idea of how it receives signals and converts them into sound waves which our ears can hear.

But for me, my radio was my lifeline to the outside world. In my Deliverance from Jericho memoir, I wrote about how having my own radio made me feel a little less depressed at that institution.

One November afternoon in 1969, I happened to pick up a radio station from Edmonton, Alberta. Since my home town of Fort Saskatchewan was only twenty miles north of that city, I felt like I made contact with home by receiving that station.

The Electric Light Orchestra recorded a song about the comforting presence of a radio on their first album. I readily identified with it because of my experience at the blind school.

Hear this song here.

We Christians are also exiles, even though we've never set foot in heaven. But we do have a home waiting for us there when we die. John 14:2-3 (KJV) reminds us with the words of Jesus, "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."

The Word of God is our lifeline to heaven, as is prayer. Just as I felt a connection to my home through receiving that station, so we have an assurance of better things to come. As the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:18 (KJV), "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

A day will come when this world will be replaced with a better one. Revelation 21:4 (KJV) tells us this wonderful news. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."

Just as I left Jericho Hill School and never returned to it, so we won't have to live in captivity anymore. We'll be united with Jesus and all the faithful who followed him.

So, what do you think of what I've written and this song? Please let me know in the box below.

On Monday, I'll post about another Bible verse which people misquote and misapply.

The Irony of Jericho

How curious that Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind, where I was forced to go from 1964 to 1970, was located above Jericho Beach in Vancouver, British Columbia. In the biblical Jericho, Jesus healed a blind man. Some three-thousand years later, sight-impaired children were sent to a school called Jericho.

We read in Mark 10:46 (BBE) of this man and how he was healed completely. "And they came to Jericho: and when he was going out of Jericho, with his disciples and a great number of people, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind man, was seated by the wayside, with his hand out for money."

The modern-day place where I was sent for six lonely years wasn't named after Jericho of old but for Jeremiah Rogers. He was a lumber man who had a camp in that area during the 1860s. Jerry's Cove, as the beach was called, soon had its name corrupted into Jericho and the name stuck.

I remember how we used to love the spiritual song about Joshua fighting the battle of Jericho. How we wished we could have Joshua rescue us, burn down the school, and take us to our homes. Our music teacher doubtless wondered why we sung that song with such earnestness.

And Just as we cursed our Jericho, Joshua cursed that city in his time. Joshua 6:26 (BBE) relates, "Then Joshua gave the people orders with an oath, saying, 'Let that man be cursed before the Lord who puts his hand to the building up of this town: with the loss of his first son will he put the first stone of it in place, and with the loss of his youngest son he will put up its doors."

Jericho of old was rebuilt, just as Joshua said. We read in 1 Kings 16:34 (BBE) that, "In his days Hiel made Jericho; he put its base in position at the price of Abiram, his oldest son, and he put its doors in place at the price of his youngest son Segub; even as the Lord had said by Joshua, the son of Nun."

And though some blind folks decry the lack of braille lessons being taught to visually-impaired children in public schools, I'm glad that Jericho was closed in 1992. Three-hundred deaf students and alumni filed a class action suit against the British Columbia government because of sexual molestation which happened in the school for decades.

As far as I know, no children died as a result of the new Jericho School for the Deaf which was built in the neighbouring city of Burnaby, I suspect that more attention is paid to the children and their situation.

I wrote my second memoir, Deliverance from Jericho, about the time I served at that institution and what it was like being there. You can order print copies directly from me through Messenger or by e-mailing me directly.

On Saturday, I'll be posting about the time of the school year which all kids look forward to. I had a special fondness for the end of June because I knew I'd be home for nine wonderful weeks of freedom from supervisors and bullies.

ONE OF THOSE SPECIAL MOMENTS IN NATURE.

Did you ever have one of those sublime experiences while in a forest or meadow? There are times when we witness stunning sunsets, astonishing cloud formations, or touching scenes of wildlife interactions. While on a self-improvement retreat in February of 1984, I experienced one of those precious moments.

Part of our daily routine at the retreat was silent meditation. We were allowed to find a quiet place in the forest or the camp to do this. I happened to be standing at the top of a path that went down to the beach. As I watched, a female deer walked along the shore. She turned her head and gazed at me for a few seconds. I stood still, not wishing to frighten her and ruin the moment. Then she turned her head and continued her journey along the beach.

When the time came for us to leave, I snapped a photo of the place where this awesome encounter happened. It doesn't look like much to the casual observer but it holds a special memory for me.

Perhaps I'm mistaken but I've often felt that most people don't treasure such sublime moments. They seem to hurry through life, oblivious to the wonders of God's creation. I, on the other hand, treasure even the small pleasures that the Lord has provided. My photo albums are filled with lovely landscapes, pets, and experiments with photographic composition. When I could, I've taken photos of wildlife or domestic animals living their lives as God programmed them to do.

I've also written about these special experiences in my three books. When a Man Loves a Rabbit: Learning and Living With Bunnies and Deliverance from Jericho: Six Years in a Blind School are featured on the left side of this page. I also have a newly-published memoir called How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity. Please check it out at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm.