The year of 2017 should be a memorable point in my life in many ways. I started my 50’s this year in January, this is my 20th year since I came to the USA, and I am almost completely sure that I will become an American citizen this year. Whether others recognize it or not, many things have changed inside and outside of me. But, there are things that will not change; God and me, and the relationship between us and God.

There is a movie, among many, that I will remember my entire life: “Contact.” (The film was released in 1997 when I came to the USA!) Here’s a summary of the movie: a scientist, Dr. Arroway (portrayed by Jody Foster), has an amazing experience seeing many unthinkable scenes when she goes beyond the speed of light for an extremely short moment. It includes a meeting with her deceased father. Even though she was in her 30’s or 40’s, her dad looked young again, like he was when she was around 10 years old. The movie plot implies it’s a contact with an Extraterrestrial Intelligence (alien) who came in her father’s form to make the first meeting easier for her, but I had a picture of heaven in the scene that I believe would be more realistic for us to experience after this life.

The time and space we experience now might be very limited for our one life on earth. When we leave this earthly life, we will see the totally different views of the world God has created. We should do our best to nurture and care for our important things and beliefs while we are following God’s guidance on earth, but we also need to long for the higher values that are far beyond the things we see now as God’s children.

Let us enjoy our time and relationships while we are here together; what could be more important than that? And again, I would like to say music is always around us when we need to connect to each other. I believe that music will be one of the few things from this life we will keep even in heaven.