When the recent news of oil gushing out of control in the gulf surfaced to the public, I said to some of my friends, “We live in a time, when anything can happen.” But, things are not changing for the worse just in recent times. It seems that almost anything that can change, and everything that can change for the worse has been changing for several years.
In one of Marvin Harris’ classic books called, America Now, this noted anthropologist writes about old ladies getting mugged and raped, letters that take weeks to get delivered, waiters that throw food at you, rude sales help, computers that bill you for things you never bought, pens that don’t write, roofs that collapse, waterless fountains and many other conditions that accompany our new and strange America.
It takes strength to handle these changes; the strength that only Jesus can provide. The Phillips translation of Philippians 4:13 reads: “I am ready for anything through the strength of the One who lives within me.”
What a mantra for our current condition, climate, and culture. What a response to our recent recession and recurring regressions. A popular John Homer Miller quote is, “Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you, as by the attitude you bring to life.”
So, with Christ I can do all things; I can handle all things, and I am ready for anything life brings.
With Christ’s help, all things are possible. With Christ’s help, every student can achieve, every ministry can grow, every parent can be effective, and every father can be present financially and emotionally for his child.
With Christ’s help, every community can be viable, and every person can be considered valuable to the Kingdom of God. With Christ’s help, there is victory over every temptation, grace for every trouble, strength for every task.
Satisfaction for every hunger, virtue for every vice, life in every assumed dead situation, assurance for every anxiety, comfort for every pain, and, an escape for every temptation.
Because of Christ, there is no confinement, conflict, confusion, contamination, condemnation, constraint, condition or negative
climate that will stop the plans that God has for my life. I am ready for anything!
The Christian life is not just the engagement of virtuous activity in controlled environments, but also the maintenance of victorious attitudes in uncertain, and uncharacteristic situations….even with oil gushing out of control, people acting like there is no here-after, and Christians fainting because of fear.
The Rev. Dr. Walter T. Richardson is the senior pastor emeritus of the Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church, 17201 Southwest 103rd Avenue in Perrine. He is also an adjunct professor of religion at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens.
WRichardson@Stu.edu
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