For most of us the year 2020 should be eliminated from the historical calendar.  What should’ve been another year of prosperity and growth has been tampered with by science, the political realm, the local scene, violence, anger, hatred and all the negatives we don’t want to talk about.

Looking back a hundred years, we’ll see much of the same.  There was the eighteenth amendment, which put a ban on the sale, consumption and production of liquor (prohibition.) This opened the door to organized crime.  The crime syndicates ruled the streets and bloodied bodies showed up everywhere.   It was the year women achieved their right to vote with the nineteenth amendment.   Tornadoes swept through the Midwest and killed over 200 people.  The ACLU was formed.  There was a housing boom as soldiers returned from the war.

The Roaring Twenties was an age of illegal operation in the US.  There was corruption everywhere.  Lavish living was the soup du jour.  Young people threw caution to the wind.

Within just the first quarter of year 2020, life as we knew it plummeted to new depths.  The culmination of a continuous battle to oust a sitting president was set aside because of a pandemic which spread across the globe.  There were floods, destruction from hurricanes, tornadoes and other disasters. Citizens were sentenced to their own homes, away from the workplace and the security of steady jobs.  The economy took a massive dive.  The glimmer of hope that came from social distancing was soon swallowed up by the loss of small businesses, employment, new means of communication.  Restrictions were slowly  lifted and what seemed to be a slow down in the climate of man’s inhumanity towards his fellow man once again reared its ugly head,

In my state, Minnesota, an arrest turned deadly causing anger within the community.  Before learning all the facts and reviewing all the film, the media took hold of this story and ran with it.  I have no idea what the truth is at the moment.  Most facts have been clouded by anger and hate.  The truth will come out, but in the meantime, activists have added their voice to the noise and created a bubbling pot of hatred and violence.  The reactions turned ugly last night as local businesses were burned and looted.  Small businesses which already have taken a large hit by not being able to open their doors, were vandalized, destroyed and decimated.  This was done in the name of social justice.

God reminds us that this world is just a stopping off point for us.  It isn’t our permanent home.  When He faced being handed over to the church of His day, He told His disciples that His kingdom was not of this world.  Neither is ours.  Our home lies in the heavenly realms, where no evil can possibly touch us – where no disease can overtake us – where no harm or danger can overcome us.

In the meantime, we’ve been allowed this time of grace to tell others that there is hope for a future.  To let them know that God loves them in spite of the evil that surrounds us.  In times of darkness, we can be sure that our future doesn’t rely on the things of this world.  Our hope is in Christ alone, who lived here for a while as our brother.  Who also experienced the sting of this world throughout His brief life.  He promised to bring us to His heavenly home when we die, so we will never really die.  What joy there is in that message.  No fear of death, no apprehension in life, only hope for the future – that’s the assurance that can never falter, when we believe that God is for us and He has this and everything in His control.