The headlines don't really reflect the state of the world anymore. There's a lot we don't know if we simply watch the news. I have taken to reading the Bible, and some great minds from the past to put into perspective a response to the world stage at this moment in history. A couple of quotes are in order:

"If we could look through mighty telescopes or listen to electronic soundings, we could hear and see the metallic stars which both Russia and America have put into space in the past years. None of these synthetic stars have brought peace to the world. But God’s star promised peace to the whole world, if man would believe and trust.  Too often man’s synthetic stars bring fear and anxiety. Our gadget-filled paradise, suspended in a hell of international insecurity, certainly does not offer us the happiness of which the last century dreamed.  But there is still a star in the sky. There is still a song in the air. And Jesus Christ is alive. He is with us, a living presence, to conquer despair, to impart hope, to forgive sins, and to take away our loneliness and reconcile us to God. "

           From Day By Day with Billy Graham, Day 268, 

Luke 2:32 ESV

" a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

My comment: This is the announcement for our nation and those who have snuck in!  Repent! The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! Seek the Lord while he may be found! Call upon Him while he is near! Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts! And let them return unto the Lord for he will abundantly pardon!! 

C. S. Lewis: On Living in the Atomic Age

"If we are going to be destroyed by an Atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things- praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts- not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They might break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds."  -From  C.S. Lewis' Little Book of Wisdom, pg. 41

My reflection this morning:

Even if we have to wait a little longer, what hope and joy we have in God's faithfulness can hardly be extinguished no matter what evil conspires to destroy! I want to live in THAT joy, instead of the plastic, counterfeit being propagated by the world. 

Lord, today and every day, may my joy be in You, looking forward to Your Kindgon of Peace. And may I live in such a way as to spread that joy to others. Amen!