by DrL

Created on: June 27, 2008

Is the world today out of control? All right, I'll ask. Is it? And now that I am asking if it is out of control, where do I turn for the answer? Should I go to international news headlines, local tabloids, emails from friends? Or can that piercing question be answered by looking out the window of wherever I am. By putting up the shades, looking out, and seeing what is there.

If I want to know, really want to know, I will do that; I will look at my world. What if I don't like what I find? Am I already suspicious of what surrounds me. Am I fearful that my world is indeed, out of control? If it is, then how do I continue to live in it? Will I be afraid for my safety? My physical safety? What about my emotional safety? If these fears are confirmed, where can I go for solace? Where will my help come from. Will I find it in time.

Look, gaze, do it. Take the risk. Find what I will, just know what is real. Breathe, be brave...just do it. Confront the question, is my world out of control. Here I go..I am doing it.

First, I'll peer out my window, from my sanctuary, to answer, what is there to see? Buildings stand tall, all kids of folks walk up and down the streets, cars honk, go and stop, babies cry, adults yell and then life goes on. It seems okay. Yet the question nags, "Is there anything out of control in my world?" If there is ,can I find it....will I want to see it.

All right, let me go out into it. Let me walk down the streets, hear the cars honk, recognize the babies' cries, pause when the adults yell, and then continue walking past as each witnessed life goes on. Will there be something that haunts me as I move away.

Now I'll look more closely, I'll look as if I am a stranger who is walking past and all is new and fresh. I'll listen, as if for secrets to success are being whispered, one to another. I will look, as if a camera, recording in detail what my eyes see. I will inhale, breathing in the smells. I will taste what is in the air and finally open my heart to what I feel. I will not judge, I will just report. Will I see a world out of control? Will I?

First, as I wander down the street from the house, I notice that my town contradicts itself. Within the boundaries are mobile homes, shacks, condominiums, estates, McDonalds, and average looking houses and businesses. The streets are paved. Pristine utilities provide amenities to both manicured lawns and patchy, trashed dotted yards.

Should I stop for a while? Yes, and I will. I'll peer around the corners, into the dark spaces. Whew, then sniff at the putrid air. Let myself hear the silent wails of misery. Taste the present and pulsating violent poverty of body and spirit. Tremble, as I feel the throbbing pain of a loveless, suffering humanity. Ache from the joylessness. Inhale, letting the suffocating despair wash over me. Choking it down with my own tears, running home while I flood the ground with compassionate weeping. Running, weeping, and searching for God's presence. Now I cry out for respite. Cry out for Christ crucified. The only hope for this, my world,out of control.

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