Have been trying to decide what to think about a recent news story that a well known and respected pastor is predicting that a catastrophic, imminent event will devastate American and global cities. Says he doesn’t know where or when. But feels compelled to warn.
Another article described the soon collapse of the evangelical movement in part because of over-entanglement with political efforts.
Part of me says these may be the kind of alarmist warnings that ultimately lead to spiritual cooling and cynicism when they don’t happen. On the other hand I don’t want to be among those who offer false hope. The book of Revelation is not fiction even though for millenniums it has been misused by people who believed they were living in the days predicted by John on Patmos.
Then I found myself last night with another set of thoughts at the screening of a short film telling the story of families who are raising children with profound autism. In a few minutes the film told the story of adolescent children who at a very young age had suddenly regressed into themselves, with inability to express their thoughts, resulting in a lifetime marked by unpredictable outbursts of rage, removal of clothing in public, and the overburden on loving parents whose own lives and marriages often collapse.
While some of us wonder about the scare-tactics, or real basis for apocalyptic warnings, others among and all around us live with crises that, for them, and for those who love them, are as consuming as a nuclear scenario.
At this point my mind goes in a lot of different directions, some healthy, some that are not. Then I remember Jesus who seemed to live with grace somewhere in the middle of alarm and confidence. No one was more aware of human need. No one was more ready to help. No one was more aware of where our lives are going. No one can better show us how to remain sane by trusting in his father while not being consumed by, or hiding from, the needs of those around us.
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