All Things Change, but One

 Something I've sometimes told people in emotional and suicidal distress is life is not static. It changes and there is just as much of a chance things will improve as opposed to never getting better. Those odds are worth staying around for. It's not a simplistic viewpoint. And it doesn't minimize pain. It's a simple truth. I have self-talked my way through a few tough times with that mindset. When we are going through a series of losses it's difficult to see beyond the wall of pain in front of us. Tragically, some people never give life another chance believing the lie that what they feel now is what they will experience the rest of their lives. 

While the concept of an ever-changing emotional landscape is true, there is another truth that coexists with it. There is a bedrock that cannot be shaken. It is immutable. What's built on it will not fail in any way. Emotional turmoil cannot forestall it. Doubt and fear cannot overcome it. Darkness cannot hide it. This bedrock is the Lord. Scripture says there is no shadow caused by his turning. David called him his Rock. And while rocks in this world erode or shatter, God our Rock doesn't. He is the one constant in life that will be with us in our changing mental and physical conditions. Whether we are on the upside or down, he is there.

I firmly believe life does get better depending on our outlook. I have had journeys through darkness so black I haven't been able to see light. But there is Light and Life in the Lord and in my worst nights of soul turmoil, I know he's been guiding my steps on the path he's laid out for me. I've had suicidal ideations on multiple occasions. Yet, God, my Rock has kept my feet firmly planted while I waited for my emotions to change, which almost always precedes situational improvements. 

When I said I firmly believe life does get better according to our outlook, that doesn't mean conditions will always change. Am I contradicting myself? No. Life isn't static. We can change. Our emotions may be up or down, but God's constancy in recreating us in the image of Christ Jesus means we can always have hope no matter our circumstances. Stories of unbelievable suffering have been handed down through the church and in history studies. The people are all worthy of pity, but some stand out for their faithfulness and lives of purpose in the face of extreme deprivations, loss of loved ones, or horrid living conditions. Their situations persisted, but their inner lives were not static. They were ever-growing, ever transforming, ever believing in a future and a hope. 

 We change either into Christlikeness or into black bitterness. But praise God, our destiny is to be like Jesus. Life is not static.

War and an Old World Order

 I didn’t experience World War II, but I was born only nine years after the surrender of the Axis powers. My childhood friends and I often played games of war. No one wanted to be a Nazi, but we'd divide ourselves up and throw dirt-clod grenades and shoot toys guns to kill our foes. The war was still close in the consciousness of adult Americans and unsurprisingly it spilled over to my generation. It was on TV in shows like Combat!, Rat Patrol, and 12 O’clock High. War movies were still being made and were popular. The horrors were still fresh and long before the collective trauma of the war slipped into the fading recollections of my aging parent's generation.

My war was the Cold War. Spy shows and movies replaced WWII fare. I knew as a child the world teetered on the brink of disaster. Adults did their best to make life seem like Leave it to Beaver and the bucolic town life of Mayberry, but I was raised in a military family and my father was involved in the Pacific nuclear bomb testing of the early 1960s. I knew the Duck and Cover taught in school meant more than tornadoes. The later protests of the Vietnam War were the result of my generation growing up with instant annihilation hanging over us. Any war could be a precursor to another global conflict. Only this time, vast oceans would not keep us insulated and safe.

Trillions were spent in the East and West in an arms race to keep each other from gaining an upper hand. But we were able to outspend the Soviets and the empire behind the Iron Curtain collapsed. Nations that had been oppressed by Russia following WWII were freed to decide their own national identities and futures. There was a new world order. The Cold War with its nuclear threats ended with western democracy and capitalism appearing the winner.

That is why the rise of former Soviet era officials taking over Russia’s government has been so frightening. The threatening return to the old world order is brewing. The President, Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent is increasingly autocratic, persecuting the press, using violence and a corrupt legal system to silence opposition. His need to reclaim the glory days of Russia’s power and domination of former Soviet bloc countries is playing out with the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, a peaceful democracy. Like Hitler and the claiming of the Sudetenland, there will be no appeasement. It won’t be enough. If we don’t sacrifice now to prevent Putin from taking Ukraine, more deadly territorial land grabs will follow. It’s why my heart sinks and breaks for the people of Ukraine. It’s why fervent prayers are being lifted heavenward, here and in Ukraine.

There are things I never thought I would live to see. The fall of the Berlin Wall. The collapse of the Soviet Union. The mass terrorist murder on American soil on 9/11. And the utterly terrifying sight of U.S. citizens storming their own Capitol Building, threatening to undo the centuries old constitutional peaceful transfer of power, as the world watched with a mix of horror and delight.

As I watch the situation in Ukraine play out on the daily news, I remind myself I am but a sojourner, yet I’m here to make a difference in this earthly life, defending the rights of the downtrodden. To hate injustice and violence. To work for the good of people everywhere. Even those on the other side of the world. While I cannot be there in person, I can donate to the needs of people fleeing the Russians. I can demand our government do everything within its power to stop the war. I can pray fervently for Ukraine’s people, and for the Russian people who are bravely protesting the war against Ukraine. They are being violently attacked and detained by the authorities. And yes, to pray for the oppressors to stop inflicting pain, to encounter the life-changing Prince of Peace.

As I strive to live as a peacemaker, I await the return of the Lord to put an end to all wars and death, sickness and tears, oppression and injustice, and the darkest evils of the human heart. I watch and I pray.

Come Lord Jesus, come.