Chaos…Our New Normal

Several years ago I was on a flight from Oklahoma City to Kansas City. We had a funny and entertaining young steward, and I don’t think I will ever forget what he said over the intercom, as we were getting ready to land in Kansas City. He said, “Attention ladies and gentlemen.  The captain has asked me to inform you to eat up, drink up, smoke up, buckle up and put your tray up, we are preparing for landing in Kansas City.”

Okay, I have to pause here and say that yes, he really did say, “smoke up.” I know I’m telling my age here, but back in the day, it was perfectly acceptable to smoke on an airplane. They had little ashtrays built into the armrests of every seat. Back then it was not even frowned upon to smoke in a movie theatre, office building or most any other public place, including most hospital rooms, even the maternity ward. 

Nowadays of course, people would be horrified if someone lit up a cigarette in an airplane! Not to mention a hospital room or a school office. Now, I’m not promoting smoking, but I cannot resist the opportunity to point out the obvious two-faced hypocrisy of some people who would be absolutely horrified by the sight of a pregnant woman smoking, but if the same pregnant woman wanted to abort her baby…well, that would be perfectly acceptable to these samepeople. I just don’t get that. But, I digress…

Back to the purpose of this article, which is to remind us to prepare for landing in Chaos, USA or (Chaos, Every-Other-Country).  And to point out that I have a feeling that Chaos will soon become our “new normal” for however much longer we must endure life on this earth. 

I know the Bible teaches that in the last days before the flood came, people were doing ordinary things like “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark.” That indicates that things were pretty much business as usual. However, when we contrast that with the horrible, evil things that were going on in the world just before the flood, it doesn’t seem to make sense. 

Unless we realize that all the horrible things that were going on back then (so horrible in fact, that God actually regretted having created mankind!) had become “normal”, i.e. business as usual. Meaning, the people of the world at that time just got used to all the horrible and evil and accepted the evil and immorality as “normal.”

I fear we have done the same thing now. Some of the things that we now accept as “normal” would horrify people, even unbelievers, if they were to come back to life today after being deceased for fifty or sixty years! However, little by little, inch by inch, freedom by snatched-away freedom, we have also, just like the people in Noah’s day, come to accept the chaos as a “new normal” for ourselves. And while the horrible immorality and downright evil swirls all around us, we have gotten used to it all, and so we too are pretty much going about our “business as usual.” 

We too are eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. Oh, we may mention some horribly violent incident we saw on the news in passing, or complain about some shockingly immoral or evil behavior we’ve heard or seen and then in the next minute, plan what we will have for lunch. This attitude indicates to me, not necessarily that we don’t care, but that we have just come to accept evil and chaos as our “new normal.”

I sense that we are headed for some even darker days ahead. The Bible says that in the last days, it will be as a woman in the labor of childbirth, meaning that signs will increase in intensity and in frequency. That means to me that from here on out, the chaos will get worse and worse. No more smooth sailing Christians! No more coasting through in this world, warming a pew occasionally. Life is going to get hard folks.  Harder than ever! 

More stress, more fear, more worry, more sickness, more fatigue, more confusion, more deception, more apostasy, more strife, more pain. Before we get to leave this earth with our Blessed Hope, we could experience: economic collapse, chemical terrorism, another world war, or we could lose our jobs or experience an EMP attack that takes us off the grid. We could lose our health and our healthcare. We could lose contact with our loved ones and friends. We could lose the freedom to worship God, openly. 

So, ladies and gentlemen, the Captain has asked me to inform you to eat up, drink up, smoke up, buckle up and put your tray up, we are preparing for a rough and turbulent landing in Chaos. But the good news is that through it all, our Lord, our Fortress, our Deliverer, our Rock, will be right here with us.

So we must not give in to the temptation to draw in upon ourselves, to shrink in fear or shy away from fighting for the Kingdom, no matter what comes! We are special! We have been chosen for this day and I do not believe for one minute that we were chosen to be bystanders or wallflowers sitting on the sidelines or hiding under a bushel.

And I commit to you, dear brothers and sisters that no matter what, happens, on this earth in the chaotic future ahead, to pray every day for your strength and perseverance until we meet in the air. 

“The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge”  (2 Samuel 22:2-3).
 
Please come quickly, Lord Jesus, I want to go: Home!

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