Presentation
This composition began as a short letter
to friends regarding a startling experience that occurred years earlier. After
a few vague sentences, I felt oddly stimulated to say more, and then became
obsessed with depicting the circumstances clearly and the reason properly. My
mind was a flood, spilling dozens of deductions over as many pages.
Months later, some newly written sections
appeared unnecessary as I approached comparable key points from different
angles. Efforts were arguably unproductive and then stalled. At that time, it
seemed best to put the incomplete project away and handle more pressing
concerns.
Eighteen years elapsed before conditions
favored a thorough review of the pages. The long hiatus allowed me to examine
passages with mature eyes and revitalized convictions.
Eventually, the moment arrived to cease
my sustained silence. Thus, I present this lengthy letter: a document called
the Trestle.
Confession
A number of unverified beliefs and
insinuative notations, derived from my experience, sporadically bloom in this
work with hope of better framing mental images and inspiring readers to seek
God through Christ. Nothing was intended to mislead, deceive, or betray any
person or is meant as a declension of church and science. Keeping my testimony
self-reliant and unbiased by recalcitrant judgment during the assembly of this
composition seemed proper. Therefore, I did not study the manuscripts of
scholars or seek tenets from strangers. More appropriately, I felt the
experience itself should be directing my efforts rather than former
evaluations.
Neither heaven nor hell is a subject I
cared to deliberate in depth. Besides, such places are irrelevant if you cannot
approach the presence of God and retain the capacity to exist, hence, the
interpretive conditions of salvation. r.j.Elute |