Living Through Major Historical Events

 Happy Wednesday! 

Over the past week I've been following along with what's been happening in Ukraine, as I'm sure many of us have and I found myself thinking about a phrase that's been thrown around a lot in the past two years: I'm really tired of living through major historical events. 

As I was getting ready for bed one night last week, I couldn't stop thinking about that phrase and ended up writing a bit of a rant in the Notes app of my phone and I figured why not throw it up here. What has happened in the past two years has been exhausting. Its been hard and its been a lot. A "pandemic", our government overreaching and grabbing at whatever power they can by using said pandemic, injustices in many forms. There have been riots and divisiveness and government overreach. There have been broken friendships and broken families because of what's happened. And now here we are fighting over the right to decide what we do or do not put into our own bodies, witnessing Canada crack down on peaceful protestors and now also watching as war breaks out in Ukraine. There's so many moving pieces and so much going on right now all over the world. It feels like its too much to fight all at once. It's actually been interesting being on social media and seeing certain people take it upon themselves to fight against and shine a light on very particular topics and issues going on right now. Some people are passionate about the vaccine and big pharma that's happening right here in America. Others are raising awareness of the convoy and protests in Canada. Others - lots and lots of people - are supporting Ukraine.

It's a lot. But - and I know this verse has gotten thrown around a lot in the past two years - I can't help but think of the verse, you were made for such a time as this from Ruth. God is sovereign and He doesn't do anything by accident. The fact that you and I are sitting here alive and breathing here today is proof that we were meant to live through these things. For what purpose? To give glory and praise to God and to shine a light on Him. I also think its to the purpose of living through these things and never forgetting how easily things can fall apart and how quickly a government can take too much power and ruin everything. Look at what's happening in Ukraine right now. Because of one man in power, people are dying and losing their homes and living in fear. I have been so thankful to God over the past week that I live in America where we have a system that prevents a president from completely taking over and having complete power over every decision. Is our system perfect? No. There are flaws, but at least we have preventative measures set in place to stop what's happening in Russia and the Ukraine from happening here. We need to take in what we've seen and heard and witnessed and felt over the past two years and we need to not forget, so that history doesn't repeat itself in the future. 

Look I’m tired of all this bad stuff happening too. It feels like one thing after another. But I think we forget... bad stuff didn’t start happening exclusively to our generation. Or even to our point in history. Bad stuff has been happening since the fall, since sin entered this world. Last semester I took a class called Disasters in Ancient History. Literally all we learned about were different huge, major disasters that happened in ancient Rome and Greece and it really gave me perspective. All those people who are long dead, they lived through things that probably seemed like the end of the world. There were ancient generations who watched the rise and fall of empires. There were towns around Pompeii who watched the volcano erupt and kill thousands of people. There were viruses with such horrible symptoms I wouldn’t wish them on anyone that swept nations and killed more than Covid ever could or ever has. There have been bloody wars and conflicts. Dictators and evil people in charge before. Past generations lived through two world wars, the Cold War, the Vietnam War and a bunch of other wars, the Great Depression and so much more... So, we can joke about being tired of living through major historical events, but if you live long enough your bound to live through several of those. 

So, remember this. Remember the past two years. What you witnessed, what you felt, how the events unfolded. Remember this past week and the weeks to come. No matter what your political leaning is, it’s important to remember so that we can remind future generations of what we went through so that our mistakes aren’t repeated. We’re a forgetful generation. Yes, some of us may not have ever lived through anything like this before, but our parents have. Our grandparents and our great-grandparents and great-great grandparents have. Let's not forget what these past two years and these next few weeks have felt like, what's happening and what's being experienced, so that we can do a better job of passing these things down to future generations so they don't repeat what's happening now. And for things happening closer to home that has to do with medical freedom... keep fighting for that freedom for our future generations so that they can live in an America that as free and safe as the one we've lived in for a long time. 

And I want to end with a verse that I think is important because all of this is tiring. It's a lot and it's heavy and it's hard. 

"Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." - Galatians 6:8-9

During all of this, let's not grow weary of doing good and pleasing God no matter how dark the world becomes.