Traid Secrets

Higher Level Living

Traid Secrets

Author: Ty Firsching

Termination Day

By

On April 3, 2023

In Termination Day

Today, April 3, 2023, marks the 31st anniversary of the death of my mother, and best friend, from cancer. I feel compelled to share her writing shortly before she left us.

Prologue:

The following was written by my mother less than a year before her residence on planet Earth ended on April 3, 1992. Born in 1928, she became a child of God (citizen of Heaven) in 1952. She is finally where she always wanted to be ever since she was born into the family of God.

Termination Day

I have an edge, a periphery, if you please, on life, for I have been diagnosed as having terminal cancer, limiting my life span from a human, carnal point of view. I will come to one grand finale…my earthly swan song in the not so distant future.

What makes this so puzzling to most humans is that they immediately become remorseful for the one in this condition. I suppose it’s because they think a persons’ life has been shortened, cut off in their prime, so to speak. How sad! These short sighted, myopic mortals had better put on their introspective glasses and look into themselves long and searchingly, and understand that all life is terminal. Be realistic! Our terminal day starts the day we are born into the family of mankind. Everyone and everything must die, to breathe one’s last, if that is more palatable then the feared word “death”.

But we don’t “breathe one’s last fleeting breath.” There is something more. There is a choice to make a while there is still time. We are not guaranteed to live from one moment to another. You cannot get that kind of guarantee anywhere! Lives are snuffed out at the strangest and most inopportune times. Thank about it. It could be you and it will be you…sometime. If you have shoved the word “death” into the recesses of your mind, it’s time to bring it out into full focus. Just what makes you think you are going to live to eighty or ninety? And so what if you do? The actual fact remains that someday you will die. All the cemeteries in the world bear out this singular statistic. Are you any different? What make you even have the possible fanciful notion that you are immortal? May I say, Humbug?”

But let me digress. From the time I was a little child of eight, I knew that there was a God…somewhere…out there…that had control of everything. Even then, all I had to do was go out on a starlit night and I realized that those stars and that shining moon just couldn’t happen to be there all on their own. There was a complex and intricate design and purpose to it all. Now my small mind didn’t come up with any grand theories or concepts, but there was something that was inbuilt in my conscience that made me realize the truth that God exists…out there…somewhere.

It was at this time in my life when thoughts of dying invaded my mind. Due to my sketchy and pieced together Sunday School teachings, I realized there were two different places to go after a person died, heaven or hell. What they didn’t tell me in Sunday School and what I didn’t know was how I could get to heaven. So every night I would pray to God…who was out there…somewhere…my “Now I lay me down to sleep…” you know the rest of it. The point is, each night I would say this prayer, but I never knew if I had been good enough to go to heaven or bad enough to go to hell. I was always left hanging in limbo. What torment! And this continued nightly up to the age of twenty-four when the miracle occurred.

In between those years I became a very moral and (self) righteous individual, trying my best to live a good clean life to gain favor with God…who was out there…somewhere. But each night as I lay on my bed, the torment of “not knowing” would return to haunt my soul.

During this interim, I did come to really understand that God did create everything and there could be no possible room for evolution. God was who He was. If He said so in His word, it was so. I had read the first few chapters of Genesis on creation and they made more sense to me than anything I had read or heard of up to this time. I also knew somewhat about Jesus, His Son, who died on the cross for our sins. The problem being, I had no idea what this really meant. The most I could conclude was that if you confessed your sins each day, that Jesus would forgive you, if you did this each day…but then what? There just wasn’t any assurance in this at all for me. I still didn’t know whether I had been bad enough to go to hell or good enough to go to heaven…I was basing everything on my works, whether good or bad.

Then came the time, in the twenty-fourth year of my life, that changed me forever. I began bumping into people who kept asking me if I was “born again” or “did I have Jesus as my Savior”. I had no idea what these terms meant, so I would tell these people how moral I was and that I was as good, if not even better, than the person down the street. I must have emitted a very unsavory self-righteous aroma. To go on, there was a little Baptist church just down the block from us in North Bend, Oregon. I would take Doug, my first born and then two years old, out for a ride in his stroller each day. One day, passing the church, I noticed a big banner covering the front of the church that simply read “Special Meetings”. I came home and asked my husband, “What in the world are special meetings?” Now, my husband, who just happened to be one of those “born again” persons, told me that these meetings were to tell people about God and Jesus. Nothing more was said, he played it really smart, but the next day I suggested we both go and see what’ going on. I thought it was my naturally curious mind that made me want to go, but when I looked back in retrospect after “the miracle”, I realized that God’s Person, called the Holy Spirit, was leading me there…by the nose.

So we went and sat towards the back of this small church and everyone carried a bible and sang hymns, most of which were very unfamiliar to me. The minister spoke on being born again, that you had to ask Jesus into your heart and make it a personal thing…instead of a God…somewhere…out there. He explained what Jesus dying on the cross really meant, that He died for all my past, all my present, and all my future sins, they were all taken care of at the cross. All I had to do was believe that this was so because God can’t lie and I would be assured of my special place in heaven. Works didn’t count, for how can we even begin to measure up to God’s pure, holy and sinless standards. It took Jesus to do that. This was all new to me.

We probably went back to these meeting four more times. Something was happening! There was a great unrest inside of me. As I was hanging up the laundry outside, the day seemed so gray. In fact, everything seemed to appear as a black and white TV to me. At that instant, I said to God, “If what I have heard and read about You these past days are true, then please come into my heart now.” Instantly color returned to my life and I knew that finally I belonged to the family of God. I was a full-fledged member. I belonged to Him and Heaven would be my final destination. No more torment, I knew from that moment on that God did save me and that He keeps me. No more trying to work myself up the ladder to God…who had been…out there…somewhere…but that He accepted me just the way I was and simply because I believed His promise that Jesus died on the cross for me personally. From that time on I knew that heaven was my destination and I could hardly wait for that great awakening. This is “the miracle”. Death holds no more fear. Jesus freed me from its grasp.

You, too, can break way from the fear of death. Jesus wants you. He’s waiting for you this very moment to make a commitment to Him. Realize that He did die for you personally on the cross to rescue you from the pits of hell. And there is a hell you know, the Bible mentions it over and over again, with Satan (and believe it, there is a Satan) as head honcho. Just where do you think all your fears come from and all your lofty and self-appointed ideologies and vain philosophies come from? Satan would have you think it’s your intellect, he will do anything to keep you from Jesus and I’m speaking from experience. That is why I took the time to tell you the truth, in sketch form, about my own life, knowing that you can relate to the same fears I had, if you will be honest with yourself.

So what’s holding you back from asking Jesus into your heart…right now…this moment? Why delay? You’ve got nothing to lose but your own future life. Just ask, from your heart, for Jesus to save you, for God reads the sincerity of our hearts.

There is no cost, no down payment, no interest charges, it’s free for the taking. Where can you ever find a better deal?

This is why I have no fear of dying. I have an edge on most people. I always knew that I would die someday, but when the medical reports told me that I had terminal cancer, I almost leapt for joy, knowing that at last I would be going home, to the real world, within a limited amount of time. The time that God now leaves me here I can really live for His glory and telling others about Jesus is such an unbelievable privilege in the meantime.

Termination Day will finally be my Graduation Day!

Iva Firsching ‘91

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Turtle Kindness

By

On June 12, 2021

In New Perspective

From my experience, the more I think about it, the more I believe that we should take a lesson from turtles (specifically box turtles) and how they live their lives.

I remember meeting an elderly lady at a pet store who was speaking to a young clerk trying to figure out what she should do. It seems that she had a couple box turtles that had been in captivity for a very long time, saying that her grandchildren were no longer interested in them as they had grown older. The young (and inexperienced) clerk couldn’t take them and suggested to the lady to let them go in a field. I chimed in and told her the truth; that letting turtles loose in a field, after being in captivity for so long, would, in all probability, be a death sentence for the little guys (Unfortunately, when turtles are removed from their environment for an extended period, their immune system becomes compromised, and they lose their resistance to nature’s naturally occurring bacteria and diseases). The lady and I spoke at length and, before we parted ways, I gave her my phone number in case she had any other questions.

A few days went by, and I received a call from her. She told me that she believed the turtles were going to die if they stayed with her and that they needed more attention than she could provide. She then asked if I could help her find them a home. I told her I would see what I could do, suggesting that maybe we post it on Facebook or something.

I went to her house to “take a look” at them in person and my heart just sank. What I say was a couple of severely neglected turtles, malnourished and with deformities from beaks (the name for a turtle’s lips) so large that they could no longer eat as their mouths would not open large enough with respect to the size of their overgrown beaks. Each time they tried to grasp any food, instead of getting a mouthful of nourishment, their beaks just nudged the food forward a couple of centimeters—they were starving to death. Their health problems were further complicated by infected feet. Their nails were so long they were starting to turn back into their own feet, causing them to slowly grow into the bottom pads of their feet and creating an opening for infections.

I had this gut-wrenching feeling that no one would take them because of the amount of attention and care (both personal and medical) they would need if they were to indeed survive. My face must have told one sad story when I was examining them as the poor lady was almost in tears as she observed me. Either way, in the wild or where they currently were, I knew the poor guys were not going to make it and I just couldn’t let them die. Long story short, that day I had a couple of additions to my family, two box turtles.

From the point I first brought them home, I knew I had my work cut out for me. I called up a veterinarian friend of mine and brought them to his office. When he looked at them, I understood what the lady must have felt when she saw me see the guys for the first time. Again, my heart just sank, and I was waiting for the worst. He told me that they are going to have a long road of recovery. At that point, he pulled out pulled out a Dremel tool and began grinding back and shaping their beaks. Then he and his assistant started to very carefully trim those ever so long nails.

When I finally got them home, I gave them a bath in warm water and placed them in their newly decorated enclosure. They just stood still, taking in their whole new environment. Slowly, they started walking around, exploring every corner, every tunnel, overhang and cave—yes, it was a very nice enclosure. I figure if they were going to have a chance, they needed a place that was as stress free and natural as possible. I manually controlled the humidity and heat lamp. I personally prepared some diced fruit and some protein for them and, I think for the very first time in a long time, they both ate without issues—aggressively I might add. As the sun set for the first time in their new home, they burrowed themselves in the ground and substrate until they could not be seen anymore.

The following morning, they did not emerge. I left them alone. On the next day, when I woke, there they were, up and visible. I placed some food for them in their dish and they worked their way to it and slowly ate. This round, they took their time eating. They then went under the heat lamp and basked for a while. And, again, when the sun began to set, they started burrowing and disappeared for the night. I would get up early the next day, but there they were already, and we went through the same process again.

Each night, the turtles would bury themselves in the substrate for slumber. Come the next morning, as the sun rose, the turtles emerged from their makeshift sleep burials and came alive for the day.  This moment captured a pseudo rebirthing as their heads slowly emerged; and then with alert eyes, they would cautiously look around to check out their environment, as if to decide whether it was safe enough for them to emerge fully. After a few minutes of observation, the turtles began ascending from beneath the ground, causing the wood chips, substrate, and dirt to mound up, only to subsequently slide off their shells, as they fully emerged crawling along the ground resembling their ancestral prehistoric relatives.

For some reason, this was so exciting for me; I was drawn to it! The next day, I decided to beat them to the punch. I decided to wake up before sunrise and lay out their food before they awoke…and that is exactly what I did.

They were never in the same exact location when they decided to bury themselves and go to sleep…in the general vicinity, yes, but never the exact same location.  Their heads would emerge, they would awaken and then they would look for their food, which was now always in their food dish and always in the same location. However, relative to where the turtles went to bed, the location of the food was different to them.  They scanned the area methodically; meticulously looking for their food as if the day before never happened.  They treated each day new, as if it was a do over.  They never brought baggage from the previous day; they just started over, fresh and renewed

This ritual soon became the best part of my day. Getting up early, coffee in hand, and observing these two, little, once near-death creatures, begin their day.

After a while, it seemed that my zest for watching them start their new day, became a part of my life. The turtles began each day by first observing and processing, then planning, and finally moved forward into the day.

I now do the same, I get up early, pray, process and plan, then finally move forward into the day. Not a bad way to start!

My kindness to the turtles has now come full circle. They are the ones who ultimately were kind to me, providing me with some small process for each day.

Parents Beware: As Lockdown Ends, Depression From Lack of Social Media Interactions May be Looming for Some Teens and Young Adults

By

On May 9, 2020

In Coronavirus COVID-19

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown has perpetuated a paradigm shift for how we live our lives, work and communicate daily.  Social media has become the mainstream means of interpersonal communication more than ever before.  The number of friends, followers, likes and comments on FB, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikToK and other platforms has increased substantially for most everyone. This increase is a direct result of the lockdown, being cooped up and caged like a dangerous animal. For the majority of 30 and under, social media has become their only outreach mechanism.  Friending, following or liking people and posts by others is something they may not have done it the past. Nonetheless, it has given many a means to become a part of a closed off world.  So, what happens after the lockdown lifts?

It may be a surprise to some that after the lockdown, their number of daily likes, new followers, new friends and random comments may dwindle significantly.  This, especially on teens and pre-teens, could have severe emotional effects on one’s self worth. As people return to their normal or so-called normal lives and, as their lives become filled with more authentic interactions, others may no longer receive the emotional satisfaction of the many likes, new friends and followers that they had grown accustom to during the lockdown.

Parents take heed, for some depression may set in. Do not discount the amount of pleasure that your teens receive from getting likes, new friends and/or followers.  It is important that parents and caregivers alike be aware of this as seemingly small acts and changes in teen behavior could be a sign of bigger and worse things to come.  If you have a social media kid, then you should talk to your children and prepare them by letting them know, and understand, that there may be a severe decrease in the number of their social media interactions (posts, friends, followers, comments etc.). If you see changes in behaviors, emotional ups and downs or blatant outbursts of frustration, no matter how small, you need to be conscious that this could lead to more demonstrative acts.  Physical violence could also surface, hitting siblings harder in the guise of normal playing, cutting one’s self, banging their own head against a wall or just slamming a door are all signs that something is amiss.

All these things are, in a teen’s mind, valid for the pseudo loss or lack of attention that the number of likes, friends, followers or comments falsely portray. Teens have a proclivity to equate their virtual existence as authentic relationships with others, and although a small percentage of their social media contingency may be authentic, most are not. So, be aware, talk to your teens, and help them through the steps back to normalcy as we come to the end of the Coronavirus lockdowns.

Leverage your Lucidity

By

On December 8, 2016

In Time and Thought

And then it hit me…the concept of lucidity in the moment.

On the day I wrote this, I was relaxing and having a cup of coffee when it became very clear that I had missed various opportunities in life because of my lack of ability to leverage my lucidity; the method of transforming a particular moment of self-evident clarity into a concrete reality instead of a dream to have or a fleeting thought.

Did you ever experience instances, minute periods of time, where everything (and I mean everything) became clear to you? Clear to the point where you were positive that you understood everything at once, and that you were light years ahead in your own thought than ever before? Then, only to find out sometime later, that you couldn’t seem to remember what you were thinking about at all, or recall anything that you previously seemed to have a total grasp on?

These particular moments are known as total lucidity, and it is these moments in life that the majority of people do not cash in on. It is the moment in time, that must somehow be captured in order for you to achieve maximum potential of your own ideas and intellect!

Believe it or not, the amazing thing is, these periods of total lucidity happen quite frequently and on an almost daily basis for everyone. The trick is to be cognizant, or aware of when it happens, and then, at that moment, seize it in order to adapt it to your benefit. The ability to do this is what separates the average person from those who become successful, not just monetarily, but also spiritually, physically and mentally.

Upon reflection, there were many times in my life that I had these moments of lucidity; unaware of how to capture them, and, unfortunately, letting them flee just as quick as the instant in which they surfaced.

During times of total lucidity, I would convince myself that I would remember it all and be able to follow through on it later, or be able to recall it immediately, whatever “it” was, when needed. The sad truth is, for the majority of us, our minds do not naturally think this way.

Hence, the necessity of capitalizing on episodes of “lucidity in the moment” became evident.

To capitalize on these moments you must learn to leverage your lucidity:

A singularly personalized process by which you act on these moments of lucidity, these ideas and soon to be fleeting thoughts, in order to capture them so that they can be transformed into knowledge-based realities that will give you an edge on success for a lifetime. To be more precise, it is a personal and temporary access to the universal pool of knowledge that has eluded the majority of humandkind.

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