January 1st is a day to reflect on many things. Where has another year gone?
Am I any closer to my dream? How many days until I eat that bag of chips and blow another resolution
to eat right, loose weight etc.? Why does USC have to be so darn good and win the Rose Bowl again?
Can’t they just let someone else have a chance? Did the Blazers just win 13 in a row or has
this just been a crazy dream? Are the Iowa caucuses over yet? How many times am I going
to write ’07 on checks, forms, etc. until I get my hand trained to write ’08? “Do I really
have to go back to work tomorrow? Please? Please! I don’t want
the holidays to be over.”
Well, here’s something to reflect on as well. A song writer named Barry McGuire wrote these lyrics
40 years ago:
The eastern world, it is explodin’
Violence flarin’,
bullets loadin’
You’re old enough to kill, but not for votin’
You don’t believe in war, but what’s that gun you’re totin’
And even the Jordan River
has bodies floatin’…
Don’t you understand what I’m tryin’ to say
Can’t you feel the fears I’m feelin’ today?
If the button is pushed,
there’s no runnin’ away
There’ll be no one to save, with the world in a grave
[Take a look around ya boy, it's bound to scare ya boy]…
Yeah, my blood’s so mad feels
like coagulatin’
I’m sitting here just contemplatin’
I can’t twist the truth, it knows no regulation.
Handful of senators don’t
pass legislation
And
marches alone can’t bring integration
When human respect is disintegratin’
This whole crazy world is just too frustratin’…
Think of all the hate there is in
Red China
Then
take a look around to Selma, Alabama
You may leave here for 4 days in space
But when you return, it’s the same old place
The poundin’ of the drums, the pride
and disgrace
You
can bury your dead, but don’t leave a trace
Hate your next-door neighbor, but don’t forget to say grace
This song could have been written in 2007 and it still would be just as poignant.
Soon after scoring
a top ten hit with this song, Barry McGuire gave his life to Jesus and has been a powerful evangelist-musician ever since.
Faith, Hope and Love always will win no matter how hard darkness tries.
I believe that this will be a year of tremendous evangelism.
We may be seeing a generation that, for the first time in decades might have it worse off than their parents.
But we have an opportunity to reach that entire generation living in the Portland Vancouver area with the message of
faith, hope and love.
The title for the outreaches is “The Fight of Your Life” and it’s just that serious. They
are really going to happen. It’s not just words. God has provided.
STUFF has been ordered. The first volunteer training is in three weeks. The first
outreach is in 8 weeks. We are on the eve. The Devil’s world, it is explodin’!
-Jim Liptak
