Things aren’t too bad.
One of our family members has a funny expression she often repeats. When we ask
her how she is doing, she frequently responds with “It’s going miserably!” With
colourful detail she could tell you how bad it was going with her and everyone around
her. What’s so funny about that, you ask? She is not the only one responding like this.
When I read on Facebook what people write, scan the letters in newspapers, or listen
to conversations and teachings in churches, it often feels like it is near the end for us
all. Constantly I hear expressions like “Everything around me is falling apart,” “It
can’t keep going on like this” or that helpless religious comment “Only prayer will
save us now” (As if prayer is the last resort and not our first and only response unto
God!).
I think again of that disheartened family member of ours, and I wonder if our faith in
Christ makes even the slightest difference in how we speak, or the way we live? No,
our faith does not make us blind or naïve. Murder and corruption are the dire reality in
many places within our country. But our faith in Christ does not fall apart when it
feels like we are falling apart. Always and everywhere Christ is our rock, our joy, our
hiding place, our companion. We are never alone.
Recently, someone told me it is unrealistic of me to expect people to experience joy in
dark times like these. I told him he is right. Faith is unrealistic...from a human
perspective. But when Christ make you His, and you feel His Spirit beating within
your heart, then everything changes.
Then you serve a new God.
Then you start hearing new music.
Then you laugh, even when you cry or grieve sometimes.
To live behind Jesus, is to experience a new way. It is to know hope, for that hope that
is found in Christ Himself. All the misery surrounding us is seen in a different light,
because Christ is here!