Saturday, October 18, 2014

To Fear or Not to Fear

Ever since the second nurse was diagnosed with Ebola my concern over this issue has grown significantly.  At first I bought into the general consensus that this disease could be contained, and the US was equipped to handle patients in a safe manner.

But now I'm not so sure.

My 'could the world end soon?' antenna is a little higher and I'm bordering on actual concern for a mass outbreak followed by days of being quarantined at home.

At this point, its hard to know what to think really or what to expect.

It seems to me that our current generation is programmed to listen with great interest to news about potentially life altering events, but not to really expect those events to actually affect life as we know it.

While we may fear an Ebola outbreak, how many of us truly think this will happen in America?  What would that do to our national confidence if it did?

If our hospitals are unable to protect healthcare workers from contracting contagious diseases, how many healthcare workers will choose to continue to care for patients?  Could you blame them if they didn't?

I'm troubled by the potential for disaster in my country.  And perhaps equally troubled by how hard it is to believe that disaster could ever impact America.     I'm grateful to live in such a wonderful country, but the reality remains that we live in a fallen world.  And we know the end is coming.

I don't want to be caught off guard like the metaphor of a thief in the night.

I also don't want to live life in a state of fear.  

The same Jesus who promised that the end would come also declared that he came that we might have abundant life.   (Matthew 24:14, John 10:10)

Perhaps one response is to fear ebola and other potential security threats in our country in the sense of being aware of the danger and not ignoring warning signs around us, but also not to fear these things by definition of being afraid of them.

May we be wise in our understanding, childlike in our faith, and unwavering in our trust in God.







Saturday, October 4, 2014

Mountain Peaks

It's hard to come down from the mountains.

My husband and I just finished an amazing vacation in the Colorado Rocky Mountains and now that we are home, I'm feeling a little sad.

I love our home, our friends, our church.  But there is something special about being on top of the world amid beauty so wild and breathtaking that it scarcely seems real.

It's hard not to miss the crispness of the air.  The snowcapped peaks.  The golden aspens. And trails and trails of forest to explore: open grassy meadows, rocky rivers, and winding inclines with spectacular vistas.

How do you come down from the mountains?

At times life offers amazing moments, incredible experiences, full of promise.
It can be hard to come down from these times as well.   How do we go about living the day to day, once we have learned about the mountain tops and long to return?

I'm sure there are many wonderful answers to this question.   But for now the promise playing in my mind is from Matthew, when a small band of Christians gathered together as they were about to watch their mountain top experience ascend into the sky.  

"Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."