Apocalypse

For the first time since the foundation of this country, less people are looking forward to the next ten years than in the last ten years. Global warming, national debt, overpopulation, and scarce supplies of oil, among other resources, are making citizens of the US as well as those of many other countries in the world fear what may come next. Some scientists are now predicting that if we don't stop polluting our Earth this way within the next ten years, there will be no going back after that. Even though this may not be the most reliable of predictions, it shows all the more that time is indeed running out. The US government is now sponsoring a meter that tells how likely it is that a person will set off a bomb or fly a plane into a building in the US because they feel like the best way to die is to take down some Americans with them in the process. Obviously, respect for America is diminishing around us. It seems like every week we hear about another disaster in Iraq, and how none of our troops are given respect, and apparently some don't give respect to the Iraqis either. It's too bad that we can't be represented the way we should. However, as long as there are a few soldiers overseas that remain dishonorable, they will be the ones that will ruin our reputation. Also, you hear songs on the radio these days that are realizing something is not right. "Where is the love?" by The Black Eyed Peas says "Overseas yeah we been tryin to stop terrorism, but we still got terrorism here livin in the USA, the big CIA, the bloods and the crypts and the KKK." Apparently, people are beginning to notice that things aren't getting much better these days for our country, a problem that I personally feel cannot be blamed solely on the president but mostly on the people of our country. One other thing I've noticed is that this generation lacks the great thinkers and influential speakers that other generations had. Rather than looking up to people like Martin Luther King, Jr., Einstein, or Darwin, we look to musicians and actors to fill those empty holes that thinkers and scientists used to fill. Now, in a time where there is no other foe, we have begun making foes of one another. We need to be led back to peace with one another, a task which musicians and actors are not fit to accomplish.
This is a sad thought and perhaps an unreasonable thought, but I fear for the next generation. I have wondered if it would be worth it to have children in this world where the future looks all the more grim with each passing moment. This worries me, for if I decide not to put children through a dark future, who will be there in my old age? I despise that I must consider this as an option at all, but it is something I feel must be taken into account. I do not think of it often, however, because I know when the time comes the Lord will lead me to what is right, and I do not believe he will lead me to not have children.
If this could be the slow start to Revelation, a possibility that I feel all generations must be aware of, I would take a very different view than if the coming years were simply another dark chapter in the history of the Earth. I would certainly have children if this is so. I would do my best to raise them to be strong Christians so that the Lord would be forced to take them into heaven when the time comes. I would be proud of them.
So, I pray. I pray that the Lord may guide us through the years to come and bless us with the wisdom to know what is right. I pray also that He may help us in our decisions, and lead us to the choice He desires. Finally, I pray that He may help the leaders of this world to come to the right decisions for the countries of this world in the trying years to come.
Amen