Alicia Keys to Sing For Super Bowl
Perhaps they'll recommend she wear a turtleneck.
The End of the World Pt. 1
My daughter is finally coming of the age where she is becoming aware of "reality." And it scares her;
she really doesn't want anything to do with it. She's turned from asking me questions that I can't answer,
like what do fireflies eat (they don't - their lives are so short they come out of the larval stage with every
but of nourishment they need) to questions no one knows the answer to. What if I don't do well, Daddy?
What if I don't make it through college? What if I get into trouble and don't become the special person who
changes the world like you've said that I will? What if God doesn't love me, and I don't go to heaven?
As you can imagine, these are all very challenging questions. As for myself, I'm just takin' 'em one at a
time.
Recently she asked me about the end of the world. I'm not surprised - the rhethoric everywhere seems to
be about the end of the world. You often hear the phrase "According to the Bible, the end of world will be
prefigured by a series of catastrophic natural disasters..." We just had the biggest, deadliest one of my lifetime along the Indian Ocean, so the pundits are flappin' their lips. Some Christian extremists are saying that God was punishing Islam by directing this massive natural force against an area so dominated by the Muslim faith. Islamic extremists say that Allah was punishing Indonesia for cozying up to the West, allowing themselves to partake of Hollywood movies and discotheques and opening too many brothels. More mainstream believers of either faith don't take these views very seriously, but in this society the cries of extreme thinkers are heard louder than anyone else's voices.
In any event, both sides seem anxious to see the end of the world come, just to prove that they are "right," that God really is on their side after all and will take them from this miserable world into the better place which they idealize, where everyone thinks, behaves and believes like
they do. And this is very frightening to my daughter, as she hasn't really had a chance to live her life yet. Televised images of children floating like abandoned rag dolls in the Indian surf or piled up in mass graves haven't helped her come to terms with these questions.
I just try to explain that very few days will go by in her lifetime without somebody proclaiming "the end is at hand" within her earshot. And there are days throughout history where the world
has ended for large numbers of people all at once - whether in Indonesia and in the Indian Ocean last December 26, or for European Jewry and scores of Eastern European and Russian people during World War II, or for Hugenots in 1572 France, or Catholics under Henry VII, the folks at Masada, Pompeii -- on and on as far back as recorded history can see. It happens - there is no guarantee that in this life that one will die old and in their own bed.
But this is still something worth aspiring toward. The key is to live your life as well as you can, so if you find yourself surprised by that grim looking cat with the scythe that you will ready no matter what happens. No amount of money in the world can buy him off, and he will come -- someday. But for now Remy, you're 11, and the best evidence says you have time ahead of you; plenty of time, much more so than me.
Just remember that no one who has said "the end of the world is now" has ever been right, and anyone who says so is a fool. That's God's business, and no matter how much we think we know about it, none of us are on the inside of God's plans for the world.
Did this help to answer her question? I hope so. Actually, it seemed to.
Uncle Dave Lewis