|
???Would you like to go home today????
Who would have thought this kind question by my wife,
Pauline, would set us on a course to drive into darkness? Knowing I had
plenty of work piling up at home and that she faced surgery soon after our
return, she was simply suggesting we leave our pleasant retreat in one of
our favorite places a day earlier than planned in order to ease the load
awaiting us and have the benefit of air conditioning for the predicted heat
wave.
???Fine with me,??? I replied. And within a few hours we
were on the road, departing the part of our state that would be untouched by
the great North American power failure, to unknowingly drive directly into
its path.
An unlighted traffic signal was the first indication
something wasn??™t right when we neared home. ???I hope this isn??™t a sign of an
area wide power failure,??? I commented, having no idea of how much I was
underestimating the scope of this historic outage, one that would capture
the attention of the entire world.
Speculation about what caused the massive power failure
is still rampant. We heard first it had started in New York, next in
Ontario, then in Ohio. At least one terrorist group has claimed
responsibility for it, but the intelligence community says it isn??™t so.
A more important question is being voiced frequently by
those in power: ???How can we prevent this from happening again???? The answer
to this vital question is undoubtedly to see the great North American power
failure as a wake-up call. We??™ve been made aware of how vulnerable we are
and how much we need a power source that doesn??™t fail.
We also need another kind of wake-up call: one that
enables us to see how vulnerable we??™ve become to dark forces that are
undermining our morals and short-circuiting the
spiritual values that make communities and nations
great.
After the Columbine tragedy, an unnamed High School
student reportedly wrote the following: ???The paradox of our time in
history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider
freeways, but narrower viewpoints; we spend more, but have less; we buy more
but enjoy it less. We have bigger houses and smaller families; more
conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees but less sense; more
knowledge, but less judgment. We have multiplied our possessions, but
reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom and hate too often.???
It??™s not the first time.
The cycles of sin periodically move people and nations
to forget what really matters. Material things become more important than
spiritual; morals decline and those who refuse to compromise their
convictions find themselves objects of ridicule; even churches choose
politics over prayer and social standing over caring for souls, indicating a
spiritual power failure. Then a wake-up call changes everything.
This is exactly what happened in the mid-nineteenth
century. Violence and immorality were widespread. Many churches were torn
by strife. But out of this dark period came one of the greatest spiritual
awakenings of all time.
In his book, ???The Fervent Prayer,??? J. Edwin Orr says:
???From tiny springs of prayer in New York and preaching in Hamilton
(Ontario), came a flood soon to envelop the world. Prayer ended the great
North American spiritual power shortage, revived the churches and impacted
the world. Light replaced darkness because prayer turned the power on.
Let??™s ask God to do it again
?© 2003 by Roger Campbell |
