the mess of it all
We are living in the greatest revolution in history-a huge spontaneous upheaval of the entire human race: not the revolution planned and carried out by any particular party, race, or nation, but a deep elemental boiling over of all the inner contradictions that have ever been in man, a revelation of the chaotic forces inside everybody. This is not something we have chosen, nor is it something we are free to avoid.
This revolution is a profound spiritual crisis of the whole world, manifested largely in desperation, cynicism, violence, conflict, self-contradiction, ambivalence, fear and hope, doubt and belief, creation and destructiveness, progress and regression, obsessive attachment to images, idols, slogans, programs that only dull the general anguish for a moment until it bursts out everywhere in a still more acute and terrifying form. We do not know if we are building a fabulously wonderful world or destroying all that we have ever had, all that we have achieved! All the inner force of man is boiling and bursting out, the good together with the evil, the good poisoned by evil and fighting it, the evil pretending to be good and revealing itself in the most dreadful crimes, justified and rationalized by the purest and most innocent intentions.
- (Conjectures of a Guilty By-Stander) pg. 54-55
The vacation to the Grand Canyon was awesome, but of course we went and did something to bring us back to reality, or rather the Lord brought us back to reality, and rather abruptly. We stopped in Vegas on the way back from Zion so we could grab one of those famous buffets, and wow, what a shock. We went from one extreme to the polar opposite in about two hours. We were surrounded by God's glorious creation one minute, and the next, by the epitome of man's vile outworkings, Sin City. As the billboard trucks drove by with nearly naked women on them, tears actually welled up in my eyes. It was culture shock in all that it has to offer. That was on the large scale.
On the small scale, I was just hanging out with this man from my vocal class whose name is Mr. Bush. Mr. Bush is over 80 years old, I'm not sure by how much, but he is certainly a man of God and the Lord has richly blessed me by bringing him into my life. I went to his home to help with some singing and we ended up talking most of the time. Ironically, he is alumni of Moody and Wheaton, so it has been fun hearing his stories. Eventually we talked about some issues he has, and one of them is financial problems. He has lost the majority of his sight and so had a caregiver move in to help him. Not only was this lady a sexual seductress and tried to lure him away from the Lord in that way, but she also emptied all of his savings accounts. She didn't steal, per se, but through cunning tactics was able to con Mr. Bush into helping her with her financial "problems." Where did Mr. Bush meet this lady? The church... Oh, our dying world and the church that is supposed to bring salt to preserve and heal.
Lord how long will you tarry? Yet thank-You for Your patience, not wanting men to perish, but to have eternal life. Please send workers into the harvest.
Mr. Bush takes things like all should, with trust in God, and humor. He says, "I had a care-giver, but she required more care than I could give her, so I had to let her go." Ha, and amen.
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