What's left of today's print media often gives us articles that offer problems and no solutions. I don't wish to be another gloomy pundit, just a fellow human being trying to understand our journey through life. I want to give you hope for life, not more to worry about. After reading this article, you may find this hard to see.
This week's thoughts start with a realization of how dependent on electricity we are. We are helpless without it. Home and business electricity come from a complex power grid; our monetary system depends on electronic accounting; food distribution depends on computers; newer cars and trucks run only via onboard computers; communication and media are dependent on airwaves and satellites; hospitals, schools, governments, churches and even our powerful military function only by electronics. All it would take for disaster to strike is for the lights to go out and stay out. We can hardly imagine life without electricity.
If you want to read a terrifying reality, look up "EMP" on your computer or encyclopedia. A powerful Electro Magnetic Pulse can put all the lights out. Tiny EMPs occur in nature from a rare solar power burst, but a really damaging one would be man-made, from a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere. One medium sized A-Bomb exploded at the right height over America would result in human death on a scale that is unimaginable, simply by rendering our electronics useless.
We have isolated ourselves by technology, marooned ourselves on an island of our own making. Without electricity, most of humanity would die in a year or two. And all it would take is a few people insane enough to make such a bomb and smart enough to send it up in a rocket. We need to pray our military will always be far ahead of those perverse enough to destroy us and themselves for the sake of their god. And we need to pray our leaders will see the importance of being prepared for such a catastrophe.
Despite such a terrifying dependance, there most certainly is hope. Our hope comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He who keeps us will neither slumber nor sleep, and He is ready to hear our prayers at any time, no electronics needed!
I've been leading a Bible Class on the "First Three Centuries of Christianity," a video discussion series by Dr. Paul L. Maier (which, of course, requires electronics for projection and copying). Dr. Maier shows the incredible power of God at work in the lives of the early Christians who endured terrible persecution, war and starvation, and yet managed not just to survive but to thrive and eventually to change the entire world.
Like them, our only hope is Jesus Christ. Faith lives in the heart, not on a circuit board. Christians have always survived because of God's grace and mercy, and the faith and hope of the risen Christ. The love of Jesus is one of the few things we can know for sure in this life. Early Christians survived on hope of forgiveness and eternal life. They trusted with all their hearts that God would care for them here in time, and there in eternity. So must we.
Perhaps we can also lighten our loads a little. We don't need everything Madison Avenue tries to sell us. Maybe we can talk less on our cell phone, read a Good Book, take a walk or take out the original computer which has never been improved upon - a pencil and notebook. That little implement will always be impervious to electronic failure and is 100% accurate, excepting user error.
There are those who will say, "Trust in God but keep your gun loaded." It's human nature to want to protect oneself and loved ones. Besides faith in Christ, some will choose defense and preparedness. These need not be contradictory with faith, although it may rattle us to hear a Christian friend keeps a weapon in the home. That's a constitutional right I hope we will never lose.
God has given us all kinds of gifts in this great nation. The greatest of them is the freedom to worship God as we choose and be blessed by faith in Jesus. With God's great gifts, we can survive anything.
God give you peace of mind and heart, knowing His love for you never ends.
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