Mixed Feelings by Dr. Juan Harrison
Mixed Feelings
On a recent trip to Colorado my wife and I were complimenting each other on how us two old guys managed to navigate 800 miles and only got sidetracked once. I blamed it on confusing signs. Thank goodness for cell phone direction ladies and big video screens on the dash of the car.
I was watching a commercial the other day that kept telling the guy in the video that the signs were all about him as he needed to use their product. The preacher on the TV often warns us that we better prepare for the end times as the signs are all around us. In Luke 21 Jesus said, “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the Kingdom of God is near.”
A lot of believers keep asking themselves and Him what all this upheaval on earth is all about. I frequently remind my wife and sons that God is in control. He tells us He is not lax in his promises for the future, but that He is just long suffering. I think when it came to discipline my mother was short suffering. Her philosophy was to hunt for a peach tree for a switch; anything she could quickly grab and apply to my bottom or in the vicinity was fair game.
For the older person with perspective and hard-earned wisdom we see trends and patterns and big pictures. A lot of us think we’re in a period of rapid transition like we’ve never seen. We know God is in control, but it surely feels like the inmates are running the asylum. Throw in some crazy weather happenings and you get a little or a lot rattled. Us old guys don’t figure we have all that much time left, but we frequently lament about the future of our grands and great grands.
People I talk to say they’ve never seen such rapid change in their lifetime. A lot of us almost feel a sense of gloom or doom punctuated by higher prices at the store and rapid depletion of the value of our meager savings. They say most Americans could not handle a small emergency of a few hundred dollars. Most of us old guys have been wise enough to put back some savings, but even that still gives us a feeling that it wouldn’t take much medical or nursing home issues to deplete what we have.
I frequently remind my Sunday school class that all of this must occur before Christ can return. My human mind gets a little anxious about the invisible warfare going on around us. My spiritual side gets a little excited about the coming event. I wanna stay around and hug on the grand kids as long as I can, but some days I feel like I think I want to head on up there now and get my hugs when they come up there to meet me.
By Dr. Juan Harrison
