A whiplash world

For some reason, this drunk driver decided that he liked my side of the road better than his. He suddenly crossed the center line and plowed headlong into our car. I had the whole family with me, and our car was totaled those years ago. But thankfully, none of us was totaled. Our injuries were miraculously minor actually, in light of what happened to our car. Now, a friend offered to drive me to the youth retreat where I was speaking that weekend. Well, the night of the accident, the doctor put me in a neck brace for a few days, so I got a lot of sympathy at that retreat! But I did have a little whiplash from the force of the hit that we took. Whiplash that damages your neck when you get whipped around violently and suddenly.

Now, these days, you can get whiplash just watching the evening news. Events just explode across the country and around the world. There are upheavals in all kinds of parts of the world, in politics, and reflected in social media. A lot of it happens without warning; there are uprisings in places we thought we'd never see them.

We might as well fasten our seatbelts for a crazy ride ahead (the pandemic taught us that, didn't it?), because I don't think this is going to change. Awhile back, America's financial world was rocked to its core. We've had radical swings of the political pendulum, back and forth. Well-armed nations that seem beyond any restraint from the rest of the world are getting weapons that really could frighten us - dangerous wild cards in our world.

But I'm OK, no matter what bombshell flashes on the "breaking news" today or any day. Here's the big picture behind whatever disturbing news - whether it's personal or world news - that explodes today. Here's what the Bible says, "The nations are in chaos...and their kingdoms crumble! God's voice thunders, and the earth melts! The Lord of Heaven's Armies is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress" (Psalm 46:6-7).

You know, for thousands of years, the prophecies of the Bible have predicted a world like ours - that will come just before the King of all kings returns to take charge. Here are the words of Jesus: "There will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now and never to be equaled again" (Matthew 24:21). "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom...Nations will be in anguish and perplexity...Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming in the world..." (Luke 21:10, 25-26).

That’s the bad news. You ready for the good news? Well, it's great news! Listen, here's what Jesus said right after that, "At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (Luke 21:27). Jesus said when you see a whiplash world and everything is going crazy, it's into that kind of world, He said, I am going to return. I will come back; I will take charge; I will keep My promises.

Any time is a good time to belong to Jesus. But this time is a really good time to belong to Him. Because behind all the uncertainty and the exploding events of our time, there is a plan. There is a God; there is a Savior; there is a King. There is a divinely orchestrated, humanly untouchable countdown to the coming of King Jesus.

I guess the question is has there ever been a day when He's come into your life and into your heart, because that's where the anchor is for times like ours. If you never have, this might be the day for you to say, "Jesus, I want to be sure I belong to You; that I'm anchored to You. I believe that some of those sins You died for on that cross were sins I have done. And today I accept the forgiveness that You bought on the cross for me. Beginning today I'm Yours." You can talk to Him like that because He walked out of His grave. He's alive, ready to walk into your life. If you're not sure you belong to Him, that's what ANewStory.com is for.  I invite you to head there.  

Here's the bottom line, according to the Bible: "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and they are safe" (Proverbs 18:10). I'm there, and I pray you are.