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November 5, 2007 As I drove into the city, I could see the smog from a long way off. It sat like a heavy gray blanket over everything, slowly choking the life out of all it covered. Even the brilliantly colored hot air balloons looked gray. I drove past the refineries belching toxic fumes. I continued past the mound of rusted old car bodies that seemed fifty feet high, waiting their eventual crushing and recycling. Decaying buildings, with faded signs sat vacant; boards covered in graffiti over what windows that once let light into busy businesses. The drunks staggered along the street. Hookers tried to look sexy, but instead appeared grotesque as they showed their tired, drug filled and abused bodies to people going by. One looked fifteen going on forty. Another looked 25 going on 65. Junkies made dope deals. There was no effort to be discrete. Shared needles added AIDS, hepatitis and more to their already burdened lives. The lady pushing her shopping cart, filled with all she owned, stopped in the middle of the intersection. She screamed at the bus driver something about aliens and then carried on talking to herself. The casinos were booming and it was still the breakfast hour. Desperate people were pulling the machine handle or sitting for one more deal as they dreamed of making it big. The latest, huge jackpot from the government run lottery was splashed a cross a billboard, appealing to the broken dreams of desperate people. A panhandler aggressively sought spare change. The line up of people waiting for breakfast outside the soup kitchen ran down the block and around the corner. The police cordoned off the scene of the latest in gangland killings. Harried rush hour drivers cursed and swore at every delay. They gulped coffee, fixed their makeup and talked on the cell phone all at once. They wanted to be anywhere except in the traffic or perhaps their destinations. At the light, a filthy looking teen spat on the windshield of a stopped car then wiped it with a dirty rag. The window was dirtier than when he started but he yelled at the driver for not giving him a tip. The newspaper headlines said something about political corruption and corporate scandal. The radio news talked of a war overseas, an earthquake, fires raging out of control and the latest on the deforestation of the rainforest. It was a garden. Satan's garden of Eden. He reveled in the despair and destruction. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy John 10:10a NIV It's a far cry from the paradise that God had intended for us to live in. I could understand why Milton called his epic poem "Paradise Lost." It's not without hope though. God is still in control. He sent His Son to the rescue. I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10b NIV He's coming back and He'll restore paradise. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. 2 Peter 3:13 NIV But sanctify
the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to
every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with
meekness and fear: 1 Peter 3:15 KJV Satan may be reveling in the havoc that reigns, over the destruction that goes on, but he doesn't get the last laugh. Don't allow yourself to be drawn into the hopelessness that much of the world sees. We have hope, a hope that overcomes, we have Jesus Christ and He will bring us through it all. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 1 John 5:1-5 NIV Until next time rejoice in the midst of the darkness. Remember all these people still have a hope to be transformed and saved. All they need is for us to give them what we have. We shall overcome is more than a folk song, it is a promise from God Almighty. Darrel Mason |