The Truth About the Future:

I read a comment somebody made today that seemed to demand a response.  The lady was thinking mainly about the crisis in the Middle East and the fighting in Iraq; and she said, "I'd hate to be a young person looking at the future today.  That must be a grim thought for them."  When I was a young person, we were looking at the possibility of nuclear destruction,  and dealing with the social upheavals caused by the Vietnam war and the civil rights movement, riots in our cities and the specter of Communism only 90 miles off the coast of Florida.

 

When my parents were growing up, their generation lived through the Great Depression and World War II, and the possibility of financial ruin or conquest by a German madman! 

 

Earlier generations had to deal with plagues, epidemics, the very real dangers inherent in almost any medical procedure, and a host of other threats.  Nineteenth-century Americans had to deal with a civil war, Indian raids, and typhoid fever.

 

Still, all these generations kept having children.  They kept reproducing.  They lived productive lives,   often happy, and rarely catastrophic.  Of course, the most dreaded things we worry about seldom happen.  Even if they do occur, what are we going to do about it?  Shall we bring life to a screeching halt because of the uncertainty of the future? Past generations were not obsessed with the grimness of it all; and certainly, today's generation, with all the breakthroughs in medical research, computer technology, the improvements in economic conditions occurring almost everywhere in the world, and the other exciting developments in science and education need not be pre-occupied with gloom and foreboding.   

 

The truth about the future is that it has always been uncertain.  Threats have always existed, and you never know when one of those horrible threats will rear its ugly head and change your life forever;  yet, you continue to live. 

 

I strongly suspect that there will be more unspeakable  terrorist strikes against America by Islamic fascists and extremists--maybe even suicide bombers and nuclear weapons in suitcases or nerve gas.  And yes, the war in the Middle East will probably go on for years.  That's part of the truth about the future.  But let me tell you some other things that will also be true about the future.

 

Babies will be born.  Baseball games will be played.  Football season will come and go. Creative artists will produce masterpieces of sculpture, music, poetry, and painting.   Young lovers will be joined in holy matrimony.  Yes, some of those marriages will end in divorce, but many will not.  Some kids will fail to reach their dreams, but others will reach their dreams and exceed their wildest hopes--and still other people will find new dreams and accomplish worthwhile tasks. 

 

Some people will fall prey to vicious Islamic terrorism or foolish cults; but others will be led to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and serve Him for many years in faithfulness and joy. 

 

The truth about the future is that there will be a lot of tragedy.  All of us will die one day.  The writer of this blog may face a horrible death or live his final years in a tragic or lonely condition of some kind.  Some days, many of us will be depressed--or, at least, discouraged and exhausted.  We will, at times, wonder why we bother to do what we do.  That's all part of the truth about the future--part, but not the whole truth!