I debated internally whether this should be in Devotions, Covid, Pilgrim's Progress. Since it contains a music video, I settled for this forum.
Some 34 years ago, I was driving a new-to-me used tractor with a radio. I was halfway through disc-plowing 500 acres of winter wheat stubble. The sun was going down beyond the Tobacco Root Mountains. Gophers were scurrying around looking for their homes that I had plowed under. Bald eagles were circling for dinner.
And the song from REM came on the radio: The End of the World as We Know It.
As I listened, I reflected on the duck and cover drills in elementary school in the 60s. Also how, when we lived in Great Falls, MT, my Mom told me matter-of-factly that we lived in a target zone because of the Strategic Air Command base next door. Dad was dealing with Minuteman Missile construction projects throughout Montana. Twenty plus years before REM came out with their song, I was resigned to the end of the world as we know it. But there I was, doing what farmers had done since the time of Cain.
It seems like we've had existential anxiety for as long as I've been alive, probably longer. But, strangely, I could not help but get a kick out of listening to the old song.
25 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? (Matt. 6:25 NKJ)
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:6-7 NKJ)
Some 34 years ago, I was driving a new-to-me used tractor with a radio. I was halfway through disc-plowing 500 acres of winter wheat stubble. The sun was going down beyond the Tobacco Root Mountains. Gophers were scurrying around looking for their homes that I had plowed under. Bald eagles were circling for dinner.
And the song from REM came on the radio: The End of the World as We Know It.
As I listened, I reflected on the duck and cover drills in elementary school in the 60s. Also how, when we lived in Great Falls, MT, my Mom told me matter-of-factly that we lived in a target zone because of the Strategic Air Command base next door. Dad was dealing with Minuteman Missile construction projects throughout Montana. Twenty plus years before REM came out with their song, I was resigned to the end of the world as we know it. But there I was, doing what farmers had done since the time of Cain.
It seems like we've had existential anxiety for as long as I've been alive, probably longer. But, strangely, I could not help but get a kick out of listening to the old song.
25 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? (Matt. 6:25 NKJ)
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:6-7 NKJ)