POWER AND ENLIGHTENMENT OF GOOD IN THE MIDST OF EVIL

It is difficult to sit down and watch the machinations of evil one minute and then witness the reactions of the good people who come together as a counter point without being moved.  How many times have we seen it? How many times have we lived it?  I personally have been in a couple of auto accidents that were a little on the dramatic side.  No sooner had the noise of the collision died down in my ears that I was surrounded by good people willing to help me.  In neither one of these crashes did I suffer so much as a scratch or a bruise.  But the good people were there, and they did help.

When I get away from the personal experience and I recollect the moments when I have participated vicariously in evil events and then stayed connected throughout the day to participate in the aftermath, I am moved by the human outreach to the community of the living.  I think that most of us have done this at one time or another.  The access that we have to television makes this possible. The thoughts that I have about this violence reaching into my life (and yours, too, of course) are not different from one event to the next.  Here's a short list:
The atom bomb droppings in Japan
The killing of one of our neighbors in a "sleepy town"
The killing of John Kennedy (I was in Rome, Italy)
Huge earthquake in Manila, Philippines
The Twin Towers - 9/11
A huge earthquake in California (Northridge)
The rash of suicide bombings in Israel
A mass murder in a McDonald's In Southern California
The Boston Marathon Bombing 
The "Charlie Hebdo" + the Kosher Jewish Market killings in Paris
The failure of the atomic electricity generation plant in Japan
The typhoon in the Philippines
Finally, lest I forget,  HIV and Ebola. 

The darkness of these events is dispelled by the light of human love and compassion that they arouse.  In the violence of these events, we get out of our anonymity and find ourselves in a community of mutual respect and support.  In the shock of the suddenness of the explosion we awaken to the reality and find ourselves thinking straight and seeking common sense ways to conquer the evil that is trying to swallow us.  

Thus it is that great evil has great power --  and that power is to bring the good out of those who suffer it; that power unites those whom it intends to divide; that power is to attract people to the center from the fringes in which they were while they were complacently comfortable; that power teaches people more than they ever learn when things are going well and present no large challenges.  

It is my belief that it is in one of these great gatherings of humans serving one another as Jesus commands us to do that He will come to get us because we will all be ready for His coming and it will be a glorious end for us all, and for Him.

At that moment no one will be crying for anyone because no one will be left to organize the funeral!

Paul