It's been a year since I've even looked at our blog. Where does the time go?
Last week I was driving to the store alone, when I must have passed every crazy person that lives in our town. It was a parade of people talking/singing to themselves, gesturing to the sky, wandering across the street-I don't know. It was a noticeable assortment of some really disturbed individuals. When I got to the store, someone was being arrested! Lovely. I pulled into a parking spot and got some scary looks from a guy who didn't think a girl should be driving a truck or something. He was clearly not happy with me sitting behind the wheel. I waited for him to leave before I got out and went into the store. In the smelly candle aisle, there were some young men dressed like slobs, shopping for smelly candles? I don't think so. They were perusing many aisles with no particular direction(and of course they were in the aisles I needed to be in) and I was thinking to myself, "Don't they have somewhere to be, like work?" Feeling a bit unsettled at this point, I just wanted to get the heck out of there. I purchased my things, revved up the truck not meant for a girl, and decided to take a detour through some neighborhoods when I see ahead of me, two guys pedaling like crazy on their bikes. "Now there are some boys with direction!" I think to myself. Lo and behold, those two boys were the missionaries. I felt an immense sense of gratitude for their service. What a contrast to the empty wandering I had just encountered. These young men had purpose and a plan to get somewhere. (Never mind that we were in the middle of another stellar Seattle rainstorm:)
Like all of us, this last week has been one of sadness for those individuals hurt or killed at the hands of evil people. I have felt scared for my kids and the kind of world they are facing. As I contrasted the two groups of people I observed on my way to/from the store, it was reaffirmed to me that the only way to combat evil is to follow the direction of Jesus Christ.
Our nation is being crippled by its "moral relativism." We are getting to the point, if not already there, where there is no longer a right or a wrong. Many of the friends and family of the "Boston Bombers" knew that these two young men had radical views, even stating that they heard one of them say that terrorism isn't wrong if the cause is justified. Yet know one spoke out, because the general consensus was that it is their prerogative to feel that way. Have we lost our minds??? The gospel of Jesus Christ gives us clear answers to all of the issues we face. It gives us direction on what to teach our children when the world no longer knows what is up or down. We HAVE to teach our children the difference being right and wrong or else the world will teach them that there is no difference. I am so grateful to those missionaries who showed me there is still good in this world, that there are still people striving to do good and to be good. I hope that we can be that example to our children. We can't afford not to be.
