It's the End of the World ... and I Feel Fine

I can still remember my first - and only - Michael Stipe sighting. The R.E.M. front man was walking downtown in Athens, alone and looking a tad worse for the wear. It was at night - probably late - and it took a few seconds for the recognition to register. Once it did, I was both let down (by his ability to walk down the street with a skill nearing on invisibility) and relief that I had finally accomplished a long-venerated rite of Classic City passage.  

I had gone through my R.E.M. phase several years before. I can still remember laying in bed with my headphones on, listening to the "Out of Time" album over and over. So much young teenage angst!

"It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)" has popped into my head a time or two during this pandemic, which is funny because its dire title is diminished by its poppy beat, and it appeared on an album I never owned. Plus, it's akin to a question my youngest daughter, Debbin, asked quite a bit as COVID-19 started changing life around her.

As school was canceled and shelter-in-place orders took effect, she was legitimately concerned that this just might be the end of the world. We're a Bible-reading and -believing family, and so talk of the "end times" has been had off and on as the girls have gotten older. It's a subject that seems to be rarely touched on in Sunday services. And frankly, the book of Revelation is no easy read.

Not ones to shy away from a challenge, and with newfound time on our hands, my husband and I decided to start a nightly Bible study of Revelation with the girls so that we could all better understand just what will happen as Jesus' second coming nears. Over the course of about a month, we've read a chapter a night right after dinner. I won't say we've understood every word, symbol, or image, but it has helped us to become more comfortable with the fact that, as Christians, we are guaranteed everlasting life with God in heaven - no matter what trials and tribulations may come our way before then. 

Getting comfortable with the idea that we as Christians will most certainly suffer in this life for our faith, and even more so as the final days approach, is not an easy lesson to accept, much less to impart to a 10 year-old. But, I'd rather our girls hear it from us and read it for themselves in the Bible than hear it from other sources that don't have their best interests at heart.

If anything, I believe God is using this time to draw us nearer to Him, and to prepare us for the days ahead, which may involve spiritual reckonings that aren't exactly comfortable and will definitely go against the status quo. 

If you have questions about what's going on in the world today, I encourage you to look first to the Bible, and then look for ways to discover and share that knowledge with your family. You'll discover, as we have, that as Psalm 46 says, God - and His word - are our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble.

And so I not only feel fine, but optimistic. For as Romans 8:28 says, "All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose."