We live in a pretty messed up world... or do we?

So there I sat, in front of the television watching Rosanne Barr rant about the current way things are in a dreadful display of stand-up comedy. Generally, I would have just shrugged off all the anti-Bush propaganda and tried to smile in spite of myself. However, some of the things she said really hit home with me...

"Half of the world is starving to death while the other half is trying to lose weight."

"We lock up the poor to keep them off illegal drugs while we pump the rich full of every prescription drug you can thing of."

The ironic (and at least partly true) statements kept on coming until she concluded, in reference to a one-liner about anti-depressants, by saying:

"I don't understand why people are so keen on taking drugs to keep themselves from being depressed. Have you looked at the world we live in? Maybe things are so "messed" (I'm censoring right now) up nowadays that we're supposed to be depressed!"

Throughout the following week I was unable to keep from thinking about this. Could Rosanne Barr, the loud mouthed self-proclaimed "queen of all trailer trash", have taken such a startling view on life and been correct in doing so? I worked the entire week at the hospital, covering for a sick coworker. Every day, I witnessed the struggles of countless patients from all walks of life. In addition to this, I watched the news every morning (something I haven't done while trapped in the "Wake bubble") and was blown away by the consistent reports of earthquakes, forest fires, floods, shootings and many other catastrophes. The more I took in, the more I started to think Rosanne may have been right. Things do look pretty bleak... in Dublin, in Pulaski County, in Virginia, in the United States, and most definitely in the world.

This troubled me. It couldn't be that things were as bad as the news media made them out to be. I recalled my mother telling me over and over again "You know, nobody publishes the good news. It's the bad that people will pay for." Maybe this was more accurate, maybe not. That's aside from the point I'm trying to make. Even if things are as terrible as television would have us to believe, the words of Martin Luther's famous 1500's hymn still ring true today:

"A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing. Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing."

and, from the lesser known third stanza (not verse... Justin):

"And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us."

THIS IS IT!!! (remember that all caps and bold marks importance) We have nothing to fear no matter what the world can muster up to try and shake us. God still remains in spite of fire and flood and even death. What's more is that, in my opinion, these tragedies heighten our awareness of that voice inside that cries out in need of a God. God allows such tragic events to occur, not as punishment for disobedience, but as a means to reveal his greatness and his capacity to deliver us mortals from our current state and elevate us to a higher existence. Through disasters, followers of Christ are called to recognize that God is still in control of the universe and, because He is still in control, greater and more powerful than we can comprehend. Through trying times, we realize the greatness of our Creator, who is able to produce tremendous good and still inspire us to worship Him in spite of what seems to be overwhelming evil.

Agape,
Joe