It's a Mad, Mad World

By Brenda Black

Around the world, people are raging and innocent lives are lost and destroyed. Not just in remote, desert wastelands with cave-dwelling insurgents or in war shattered regions. Cultural hubs and Wall Street districts are overrun with thuggery and vexation.

While news of the tragic losses of American servicemen grieve our nation at large, British families hide behind locked doors in posh neighborhoods where streets below blaze in fire. Riots in England spawned by angry youth mutated to sport when young people joined the wave of

violence all in the name of evil entertainment. "'Come join the fun!'" shouted one youth in the east London suburb of Hackney, where shops were attacked and cars torched,” reports the Associated Press. Some of the rebels are mad; others plain crazy.

This side of the big pond, forked tongues spit flames across party lines as raging politicians point fingers of blame for the economic fiasco we're facing. One magazine editor strategically demonizes a conservative presidential candidate in a cover shot while the current and failing president daily plummets in polls of public opinion. Jokes abound about kicking him out of a plane window. Some folks are desperately crazy and others are fed up and angry!

Headlines across the globe plaster repeated stories where minor conflicts escalate to deadly assaults. Take for instance a disgruntled woman on a bus who calls for open fire from a gang as her resolution for a difference of opinion. It's a mad, mad world where if someone doesn't agree, a gun is immediately used to settle the argument.

Why are people so angry? What made the world go insane? The answer is simple; the fix

attainable. Pride and selfishness, greed and hate are the sinful culprits behind the rage. Only one solution will ever temper the out-of-control tempers flaring in the hearts and minds of men. Jesus is the answer.

You may think that trite or flippant or even stupid, but the reality is it is truth. This mad, mad world is in need of a Savior!

A strong rebound in the world of finance won't squelch the greedy grab of humanity. A social system steeped in egalitarian gobbledygook won't work where selfish people who refuse to get a job think they can have the same level of wealth as those who work their entire lives. Arrogance and indifference from the top down won't heal the heartache of a weary working class nor motivate patriotism. And I'm not so sure that even an awe-inspiring leader could truly rally real hope in our nation. This mad, mad world needs a Savior!

Francis Bacon, English philosopher, essayist and statesman of four centuries ago, wrote, “Knowledge is power.” So I ask: Just who do you know? There's supernatural power in the right answer and it comes covered in love, not in hateful violence. Until Christ is preached and souls repentant, the world will continue to spiral downward, grasping for false saviors and fighting mad. 1 Corinthians 2 paints a picture of contrasts between such a mad world and this masterful Creator and Christ.

“When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

“We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God designed for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him'

“But God has revealed it to us by his spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because thy are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:

“'For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?'

“But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-16)

The answer to madness is this mind of Christ. The answer to violence, the love of Christ. The answer to economic crisis, Scriptural mathematics. Let's stop the insanity by choosing the Savior and pray not just for peace, but for divine wisdom and the supernatural power to be salt and light in a dark and angry world.

A Wise Kid and a Warm Kiss

By Brenda Black

Just when I thought the world had gone completely mad, two heart-warming headlines highlight the finer side of humanity this week. A teen golfer sees the bigger picture and opts for possibilities instead of quick cash. And an empathetic romantic is chivalrous in the middle of chaos.

In case you missed it, South River (Md.) High freshman Garrett Sauls turned down $5,000 in prize money after he won a putting contest at Lake Presidential Golf Club in Upper Marlboro, Md. Sauls didn't want to jeopardize his amateur status as an athlete for the next three years of high school, so he chose the high road of integrity and let the prize money go. Pretty smart kid.

In stark contrast to the gallery of civilized country club golfing fans where Sauls' defining moment occurred, were the darkened streets of Vancouver, BC, where hoards of angry hockey fans protested their hometown team loss of the Stanley Cup. When riot police forced the sore losers down the street, caught in the mayhem were innocent tourists, Scott Jones and his girlfriend Alex Thomas. Thomas was knocked to the ground by the police. That's when Jones swooped in with a comforting kiss to alleviate her fears and the whole thing was caught on digital film. Pretty sensitive man.

Yes, there is insanity mixed in with these two tales. A putt worth $5,000 seems a bit extreme when people are working weeks on end to earn anything close to that amount. And rioting over a hockey game? Come on, grow up! But the refreshing take-away is a teenager with good sense and a noble man with good manners. Now there are two rare and priceless qualities seldom celebrated in the press.

If given the chance, I'd shake both their hands and tell them thank you for the good example. Their acts of nobility reminded me of a conversation with a friend recently who spoke of his travels all across this great country. He said there are good people everywhere you go; decent, reasonable, kind people who are the rule rather than the exception. I had to agree because I've met many as well.

In the Midwest, we're seeing these “salt-of-the-earth” folks come from near and far to rebuild Joplin. We're watching hard-working farmers who have labored and supplied this country with food and fiber increase in courage and community to match the rising flood waters robbing their homes and harvests in northern Missouri. I know of families holding onto each other and watching their belongings burn to the ground out West. And some are desperate for rain and facing drought so severe they may have to sell out or move from down in Texas.

But if you ask these people from all across the country what matters most, they won't say money or trophies or even their houses or lands. It's not politics or police enforcement. Nor is it professional sports or Hollywood fashion. They'll tell you it's family and faith and the fight to overcome all odds. It's the goodness of friends and the kindness of strangers. It's young people making mature choices and gentlemen showing compassion. What matters most are good choices in tempting and treacherous circumstances.

Why such a fuss over a putt and a kiss? Because this teen's putt and this man's kiss gave me a little bit of hope that some people still know how to choose what is right in a world of madness.

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.” (James 3:13)