Standing Firm

It was a hard Thursday night.  The garbage cans had to moved to the street for collection, but I was the only one home ...  So, I went out and struggled on one leg to move three cans to the road, in the rain.  In all it took me just over one hour to accomplish this.  Rabbits would have died of laughter watching me hopping around!

Back inside, trying to warm up with some tea, my stump up in the air to try to continue to reduce the swelling, and I switched on the news ... just in time to catch a live feed from Dallas and the tragedy unfolding.

A culture, a society, a country set upon self destruction by sowing hatred and greed - suddenly stunned by the whirlwind it has reaped.  No, not a first harvest, the warnings have long been there - but no one listens, prejudice and envy, contrasting to show both sides of the same problem.  And I feel trapped.  I could be in Switzerland where this behavior is at least decades still away at best.  But no, I now live in the heart of humanism ...

There was this church in Turkey, a town called Smyrna.  A part of the Roman Empire, in a culture dedicated to immorality and violence, where the thought of anyone believing in just one God was to ridiculed, if not the basis for execution.  The scene had been set for a whirlwind of violence to descend upon an entire empire ...

Revelation 2:8-11

Remain Faithful In The Good
Good times are easy to survive.
No real cost for living your faith.
No one really cares what you do.
It is no sweat to call your easy life a "witness".
But, you have to not let your guard down!
Consider 1 Peter 5:8.

Remain Faithful In The Bad
Bad times come for us individually, collectively and culturally.
Now it costs something to live your faith.
Others will assail you with claims of there being no God.
People will be watching to see what your witness really is.
You will be tempted to focus on the hardships!
Consider James 1:2-4.

Remain Faithful In The Ugly
And though we life in a time where most have not seen the ugly of life:
Warfare comes
Civil unrest comes
Families explode or implode
Cultures rise and fall
Change is inevitable and usually perceived as evil.
Remember to not blame God for all of the bad news!
Consider 2 Corinthians 1:3-4.

Though of little human comfort is the idea that God is indeed in control.
If He is, why then ...
The answer is unfortunate:
When you throw God out of your culture/society, well what do you expect?
When your politics spew hate and class unrest, well what do you expect?
When you raise up God-less generation after generation, well what do you expect?
And one could go on without end as to why God will not be there for a people whom have rejected Him!

But, for me, I have to hold course with God at the center.
For my children, I have to teach them  where they should be.
For those around me, I have to show them who God is.

I have to be vulnerable and transparent in times when no one else is.
I have to show love when no one else will.
And if all is against me, I have to remember that all were against Him long ago, and I get to share in His witness of what real LOVE is.