We just got back from a cruise. The first day, for most of the day, we floated past Cuba, about 15 miles away (I think that's what the Captain said). I never thought I'd see Cuba, but there it was. All I could think all day when I looked out and saw it was "Those poor people. God, please help them." This world is dark.
windbag--I had a similar experience, but mine happened forty-two years ago when MrM and I floated past Cuba on our honeymoon cruise. It was unsettling to be so close to that seemingly benign green island and know those who were living there weren't free as we were take leave of country/home and float where they pleased. Around 2008, I met a Christian pastor who'd been allowed in, and he said he'd been surprised by the number of Christ followers he'd met there with a growing church movement going on among people who had almost nothing but faith. That trip changed his life. Light, against all odds, continuing to shine and prevail in darkness. Hard to believe, but there it was.
MamaM, agreed. The frightening part to consider is the level of destruction we have to endure before truth shines through and becomes visible. I'm constantly shocked with how far we've fallen as a society, yet the race to the bottom (until we discover new depths to plumb) continues. There are glimpses of the positive, but the tide of black sludge that is overwhelming the world is strong.
My sister-in-law is a missionary in Guatemala. The stories she told from the 1980s were horrifying; somehow it isn't as bad there now. Not great, but not as bad. Most of us never see the desperate fight against the squalor that much of the world engages in every day of their lives.
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The opponents of the first 3 were dead by then.
We just got back from a cruise. The first day, for most of the day, we floated past Cuba, about 15 miles away (I think that's what the Captain said). I never thought I'd see Cuba, but there it was. All I could think all day when I looked out and saw it was "Those poor people. God, please help them." This world is dark.
windbag--I had a similar experience, but mine happened forty-two years ago when MrM and I floated past Cuba on our honeymoon cruise. It was unsettling to be so close to that seemingly benign green island and know those who were living there weren't free as we were take leave of country/home and float where they pleased. Around 2008, I met a Christian pastor who'd been allowed in, and he said he'd been surprised by the number of Christ followers he'd met there with a growing church movement going on among people who had almost nothing but faith. That trip changed his life. Light, against all odds, continuing to shine and prevail in darkness. Hard to believe, but there it was.
MamaM, agreed. The frightening part to consider is the level of destruction we have to endure before truth shines through and becomes visible. I'm constantly shocked with how far we've fallen as a society, yet the race to the bottom (until we discover new depths to plumb) continues. There are glimpses of the positive, but the tide of black sludge that is overwhelming the world is strong.
My sister-in-law is a missionary in Guatemala. The stories she told from the 1980s were horrifying; somehow it isn't as bad there now. Not great, but not as bad. Most of us never see the desperate fight against the squalor that much of the world engages in every day of their lives.
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