If you’ve ever moved, you know the indecision of having a lot to do and not knowing where to begin. Some of you feel this on a regular basis as you stare into space over your morning cup of coffee. We sympathize, but this isn’t that.

We’re moving, alright. The direction just isn’t terribly clear. Over the space of a year, we’ve been confronted with, well, with one confusing decision after another. Among family, friend, or foe we land on the same or opposing sides of these questions, with some of us standing in the middle, our hands over our mouths, turning one way, then another. It’s a nightmare for people who break into hives at even the thought of confrontation. We’re a motley crew, to be sure, and we don’t harmonize that well just now.

We experienced an explosive reaction about the death of a man who was detained in Minneapolis. Everyone has their own opinions about what happened, but we can agree that it started countrywide protests and destruction by two notable groups that continues to this day.

We then experienced what some said was an accident and some say was a bioweapon. Whatever it was, the narrative and reaction generated fear world-wide. Depending on a state’s governing bodies, too many lost their lives through sickness, suicide, or lack of human contact. Many small businesses – businesses run by everyday people who worked hard, sacrificed their money and time, and pursued their dreams – were driven to closure. States and nations encountered economic troubles as people lost jobs and a way to provide for themselves.

We faced an unusual Presidential election in which the frontrunner had a seemingly landslide-like lead, some states stopped counting votes late at night and the nation found that in the morning election results had flipped to opposite of what they had been. This last and most recent trouble has led many to believe our free country has fallen to communism through a color revolution.

Fact and rumor are being tossed around like the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz and they’re just as scary. We face a flood of information the truthfulness of which is difficult to determine. Some people say Q was a psyop to lull people into complacency, others believe it was a military op to wake people up. More recently, some people are claiming our nation’s history includes the Act of 1871 which should peel the skin off your teeth if you believe it. If you’ve read Agenda 2021 from those darling people who meet at Davos, you’ve already found a cave in the middle of nowhere and measured it for drapes.

And in the middle of all this are the people who say we’re so close to the rapture, you’d better have the “What to do if you miss the rapture” letter sitting out where some unfortunate soul can see it if you twinkling of an eye out of here. You think I’m kidding? You’ll find it in the citations below.

I am hopeful that things are not what they seem just now. I am hopeful that righteous people are doing everything possible to oust communism from our dear country. I have planted my flag and I stand. Even so, should my fervent hope materialize, it is only a matter of time until the unspoken horrors we have been exposed to will come to pass. When they do, the world might not call it The Great Tribulation, but that’s what it will be.

I’ve learned that what I thought was the world being sifted a few years ago was nothing compared to the overdrive sifting we’re witnessing now. Seriously. It’s like being in a food processor where you’d like to stay your happy carrot self, but the cook thinks you’ll be more useful shredded. It’s the kind of sifting that asks not only, “Do you have faith?” but “Do you have faith absent physical proof? In the face of seeming physical proof to the contrary?” This sifting seeks to examine whether we live out our Christian declarations in the face of much controversy and trouble. We can no longer read the Bible and chuckle at the people who couldn’t see prophecy happening right in front of their noses. We no longer have the luxury of taking anything we’ve enjoyed all our lives for granted. We cannot afford to stand in the middle of this mess (especially where our relationship with Jesus is concerned). We have to research and we have to pray and we have to choose.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mötley_Crüe ; election fraud:https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/11/03/us-election-fraud-is-real-and-its-impact-is-being-ignored/; https://cnsnews.com/commentary/hans-von-spakovsky/heres-what-election-fraud-deniers-dont-want-you-know; color revolution: https://www.conservativedailynews.com/2020/09/what-is-a-color-revolution/ ; O,: qanon.pub ; Act of 1871: https://americannationalmilitia.com/the-organic-act-of-1871-with-notes/ ; annavonreitz.com/actof1871pdf ; Agenda 2021: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/12/21/world-economic-forum-digital-davos-2021-to-reveal-great-reset-initiative/ ; https://www.charismanews.com/opinion/64002-what-to-do-if-you-miss-the-rapture; Revelation 6: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%206&version=KJV

Salt can make things taste good, but it can also make your dog throw up. And, frankly, any kind of meat doesn’t taste that great (to me) without seasoning of some sort. Maybe that’s why some people don’t like vegetables. They don’t put salt on them. I confess I put garlic salt, tumeric, and olive oil on my salad. Though salting a salad seems counterproductive, it’s not against the law. Yet.

Living in an area where snow and ice aren’t uncommon, I don’t rejoice like people in Texas did this week when I see those little flakes falling. But I am grateful if I see sand or salt being scattered on the roads and sidewalks, because I know then that I’m less likely to slip and fall, crash, or end up in the ditch.

If you’ve ever had a bright light shined smack in your face, you know that it doesn’t help you see. It blinds you. If the person holding the light is a police officer, that blinding light helps you understand that you’re not in charge just then. But if you’re walking somewhere dark, you are very grateful for even a little bit of light. You don’t feel as vulnerable as you did before it appeared. Unless, I suppose, you believe in UFOs.

Salt has a lot of uses. Some people are glad for salt, but maybe, for some, it makes them want to throw up. Light is usually welcome, but not always. And I’m thinking just now that it doesn’t matter how it’s received; only that it’s there. It isn’t meant to be restricted to one thing or area, but every single area. The world, in fact.

This last paragraph is directed to Christians. We sometimes fall into the trap of thinking our faith needs to be present in some places, but stay away from certain areas: Like pornography or trafficking or politics. The world is the world and everything in it. God put us in charge. He uses us in the world and everything in it because that is His intention. He intervenes sometimes, but He doesn’t expect us to stay out of the fray. And if we do and pat ourselves on the back for it, I believe He’ll be shining a blinding light in our faces very soon.

Images: pexels-kaboompics-com-6401-scaled.jpg; pexels-emre-kuzu-4820763.jpg;  Matthew 5:13-18  “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

I was originally going to entitle this post “The Gifts of 2020”, but then I just – didn’t. I would’ve, mind you, twenty years ago. Or ten. Or maybe even five. But not now. Speaking gratefulness into dark times is the right thing to do, but it’s not the only thing.

I was thinking of lessons learned over the past nine or so months (strangely the amount of time it takes from the little blue line to birth pangs). Even five years ago we were praying II Chronicles 7:14, keeping our eyes open for forgiven sin and healed land. By now we have that thing memorized forwards and backwards, and have moved from uncertain voices decreeing and declaring for evil to be crushed and righteousness to rise, to fasting and praying and calling for demonic strongholds to be broken. We have begun to understand the intense spiritual battle we are unwittingly a part of and the pervasive deception Satan spreads.

Some people got mad and said they were tired of “thoughts and prayers”. Maybe God is, too. Maybe He’s looking for something more. Not in place of, but more.

This year has been akin to a strip search. The onion has been peeled. First we repented for our nation of its many and varied sins, but it wasn’t enough. So we looked at our churches and were dismayed to more deeply realize our careless leadership and undisciplined holiness. But it wasn’t enough. And it was there that we began to see our true nature, a nature that needed an amazing amount of renovation. CH Spurgeon said, If any man could see his own heart as it is by nature, he would be driven mad: the sight of our disease is not to be borne unless we also see the remedy. We began to open our eyes.

We discovered Proverbs was right. Our speech really can kill or give life, and the consequences of either lie at our doorstep. If you don’t believe me, have a gander at social media. Better yet, consider the lives lost from governors’ orders and big pharma and medical organizations’ changing claims.

We found, to our surprise and demise, that fear is a national epidemic. It wasn’t just you worrying about one thing or another. (Are you just a little relieved you’re not the only one rehearsing catastrophes in your imagination?) It was everyone! We couldn’t seem to get past worrying about our health or someone else’s health. Fear was the heavy chain we wore night and day.

During times of introspection, we realized the toxic blend of selfishness, self-centeredness, arrogance, laziness, cowardice (is seeking anonymity a form of cowardice?), immobilized faith – oh I could go on all day, but you get my drift – that we’ve allowed to fester in who we actually thought was a pretty good person. Ourselves!

God was waiting for us to get there. Well here we are. Stripped bare. We’ve got nothing. Not one thing to show for our blessed lives. Laodicea has nothing on us.

And here is the place, yes, this is the part where we look around our diseased existence and discover the way out. Our true power begins with faith in Jesus. Not the little stuff of small prayers uttered while we’re distracted with something else, but the big stuff of struggle and tears and crying out to God. We manifest what we say and believe. If fear, well, we’ve seen how that’s worked out. But if faith, my friends, oh, if faith there’s a glorious ending to all of this! Not right away. But through. Take courage! Maybe terrible, horrible, no good, very bad 2020 really was a gift.

“If my people who are called by my Name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” II Chronicles 7:14; Many and varied sins of the USA: abortion, unfaithful relationships, fornication and adultery, sexual perversions, gossip, lies, pornography, pedophilia, corrupt dealings, etc. “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” Romans 1:32; “Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Prov. 18:21; “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” Revelation 3:17 Images: NathanDumlaoforUnsplash; AaronBurdenforUnsplash; ZacDurantforUnsplash; ToaHeftibaforUnsplash; Phrase: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst, 1972.