What in the world?

What is this world coming to...

I said it in fun after the staff lunch. A joke in response to some challenge we were facing. It's no joke really, because when I look at this world without my rose colored glasses I wonder...what in the world?

What in the world turns a heart to the evil of trading a person for money...or takes the life of the innocent?

What in the world drives us to division in the name of religion?

What in the world allows darkness to rule in the hearts of men?

I watched a television show last night revealing a group claiming to know the way to total freedom. My curiosity got the best of me. Who doesn't want total freedom? But it turns out the bridge to get there requires more money than I have, more years than I have left to live, and sacrifice of things most dear to me. What in the world draws a person to this way?

It doesn't take too many headlines to know my world is not as pleasant as I believe it to be. It leaves me feeling overwhelmed, and cranky. Why try to do good in a world drowning in an ocean of wrong? 

Ann Voskamp's words ring true

Maybe sometimes the miracle begins by growing not in bitterness but in faithfulness--because, for all its supposed sophistication, cynicism is simplistic. In a fallen world, how profound is it to see the cracks?--The Greatest Gift

Cynicism can take root before I even realize it's growing. I don't have to look far to see the cracks in my world, my community...my life. And the easy thing for me is to throw my hands in the air and say, what is the world coming to?

I know the answer. He lies bundled on a bed of straw in the dim light of a stable. A star shines bright to light the way. Shepherds race to see...magi travel from countries far away. He'll grow strong enough to carry His own cross. And He'll die with a whisper, "Father...forgive them."

What is this world coming to?

The whole wide world is coming to...Jesus.