People ask often me “How can you spend so much time following the news and writing on the bizarre twists and turns of our political theater of the absurd and still remain so happy and optimistic?”
The answer is, “It’s easy because my hope is in Christ and all of this is just a soap opera.”
Sure I tune in multiple times every day to see what my people are up to. Yes, I follow every twist and turn in the plot. I cheer when my favorite characters triumph and I hiss when the evil nemesis unfairly pulls them down.
However, all in all I realize I’m something like Horton. I hear the Who. And like Horton I realize there’s a whole world living on a speck of dust flying along oblivious to the fact that dust in the wind is not the most stable place to exist.
Fleeting flowers and beautiful sunsets like snowflakes and icicles dazzle the eye inspire the imagination and then they are gone. Look at the sweep of History. We can read of empires long ago. The amazing DNA tests available through a multitude of sources can tell us where we come from. Ancestry web sites tell us who we come from.
In reality what do we know of those billions who have gone before? What were the names of your eight great grandparents? If by some miracle you can name all eight what do you know about their lives? Can anyone reading this name their sixteen great-great grandparents? I would wager 100 to one no one can. So in our own lives our knowledge of History dissolves before 100 years has elapsed. Sure we can read and memorize facts about the past but how far back does that really go? At most 5,000 years. Conservatively the earth is at least four billion years old. The universe itself is estimated to be at least thirteen billion years old.
And our direct knowledge goes back maybe one hundred years. Our knowledge gained through study maybe five thousand. Get the picture? We are the Who.
If that was all there was I would jump up on a table and sing,
Is that all there is, is that all there is
If that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing
Let's break out the booze and have a ball
If that's all there is
And for thirty years of my life that’s what I did. The emptiness and futility of it all led me to the edge of sanity and beyond. I wandered about aimlessly muttering, “I’ve got to try something. I’ve got to try something.”
Until a voice in my ear said, “Why don’t you try God?”
That day changed my life. That day led me to road that led me to Christ and from that day to this I have hope and joy and nothing I see prancing across the stage of this earthly drama can take it away.
In America our standard greeting is, “Hi how are you doing?” Not that anyone really cares. Not that anyone ever really listens to your answer. That is just a customary greeting. I always answer, “I’m blessed.” This often brings questions such as, “Why?” This gives me an opportunity to tell them I’m blessed because I have eternal life and that Jesus gave it to me and the devil can’t take it away.”
Sometime people answer, “I am too.” And it’s always a joy to meet a brother or sister wherever they may be.
So, though it is interesting and it helps pass the time as we hang on to our speck of dust as it swirls about in the wind don’t let the story-line get you down. Just skip to the back of the book and you’ll find out that Jesus is God, God wins in the end, and no matter how bad it gets we should pray, “Come Lord Jesus.”
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2018 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
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