Scrooge, Rip Van Winkle, and Vasco da Gama

Thanks to Annette, Heaven's Archivist, I did come across other people God has mentioned at least once in Heavenletters™.

Of course, Scrooge and Rip Van Winkle are fictional characters.

Christopher Columbus still leads by a mile. And I seem to need to say more about this man that God talks about more than any other lay person.

There is so much wisdom in what God says about Christopher Columbus. Here are some of the gems:

What did Columbus do? He ascertained that no one can fall off the edge of the Earth because there is no edge. He quelled fear. The fear was imagined.

You are Columbus who discovers new lands, but the lands never needed discovery. They were where they were. It was Columbus who needed to discover.

Columbus could not discover a new land for himself. He could not keep it to himself, and why would he? Discoveries want to be shared. And he, too, did not discover anything. He stumbled onto something. But first he had to set sail in his ship.

I instruct you to set sail today for a new land, and you will discover it right where you are. It can only be where you are. One more attempt, and perhaps another, and you will discover discovery for a purpose beyond yourself.

Everyone finds Me himself. No one gives Me to you. I am not an explanation. I am not a discourse. Columbus discovered America, but then everyone had to come see for himself. All the descriptions in the world are but descriptions. You want My Presence, not a tale about Me.

Would Columbus have set sail if he had seen his trip as a problem? He had his vision of the Earth as round, and he chose to share his vision. He was not thinking of his honor or wealth. He was thinking of Truth. He had set sail on his journey long before it crystallized and long before he even knew what it was.

Those who discovered new worlds often stood on a peak. They climbed there. They believed in their inner compass more than what the world told them to think. In that way, they were heroes. They were heroes of heart. It wasn't their mind they listened to. It was their heart. Mind would have told Columbus: "Are you crazy? Sailing to the rim of the Earth? What if you fall off? What if you are mistaken? No, stay quiet. Stay where you are as you are. You have enough fame and fortune. Think of yourself."

But Columbus was into truth. It was truth he sailed to.

You might say he had a vision. You may say he saw a star, and he sailed by it. His faith was in vision. His thought was on what he saw before him and not on what textbooks and the world declared. He was writing his own book, and so must you.

Could Columbus have been swallowed up by the sea? Then he would not have been remembered, but he would not have been less of a hero. The outcome does not make one a hero except to the world who holds great value for outcomes. The making of a hero is in his setting out. And so you now set out on a new voyage.

Life moves, and you move with it. There are times when you can sit with your feet up, and there are times you must get up and venture forth like Columbus or Vasco da Gama. That makes you just like every other Human Being on Earth. No one sits still. You are an explorer, an adventurer. You can not always stay home knitting socks or reading the paper. You have to be on your way somewhere.

Let your heart be Columbus and discover a new land. Let your heart discover itself, how mighty and vast it is.

Am I the only one who loves what God makes of Christopher Columbus?