My reaction

I don't know if this is the end time or not; even Jesus Christ didn't know during his earthly lifetime when it would be. And people have proclaimed the end thousands of times... even Paul :^>.

But, either way, there's still a time we need to live in this world. Maybe a long time, maybe a short time. While we're here we must live as well as we can the will of God among our fellows.

So, and not at all to deny your excitement, I'm more focussed on the worldly things which might happen in the next few years and how I can live in these times "in the world but not of the world".

One thing I worry about is my kids' and Alicia's kids' survival if, as I expect, there is a crash. They haven't been smart... in each family it takes both paychecks to make it, and they're heavily in debt with variable-rate mortgages and high-interest credit cards. Me, I don't owe anything; Alicia still owes some on this property but she's paying it off fast as she can. And if she were about to get caught, I could pay it off for her. And we have lots of room for gardens and livestock, especially if there are young muscles to do the work, and sheds which could be turned into living quarters for the kids - not fun, maybe, but better than being outside in the rain. And surely there will be a few wanting to trade shelter for work.

So we can live, I think, and keep them alive too. Keeping them "not of the world" might be harder, but you can't run somebody else's life for them.

And there are some good things which could come out of a crash. I would expect a lot of foolishness to be wrung out of our economy and society. As in Israel, when times got hard they got closer to God; maybe that will happen here. I just spent a little time watching TV. I hadn't realised how bad it's gotten. Almost nothing worth-while, nearly everything is obscene and superficial. Hopefully a lot of that stuff will get dropped off and good stuff wil replace it. Same thing with some of the ads... nearly all of them are for things which aren't needed at all and yet it seems our system will crash if we don't all go out and buy the stuff. Let it crash and take the non-essential things with it.

So, from my focus, the news isn't all bad. A crash will hurt, but it will bring some good things with it. And the Lord will still be our Lord... and maybe other people will turn to him as well.

In faith, Dave
Viva Texas
dave@christos.cjb.net, dpeirce@christian.net

Our King died for us... Tell somebody!!