Can We Fix It? Or, Who’s in Control?

June 16, 2010

You know…we’re just not good at dealing with things we can’t fix.  In general, there is nothing that Americans that work hard enough, organize around, or throw enough money at that we can’t lick.  With pride, we recall the ways we swooped in to aid the Haitians, the victims of the tsunami, the families affected by 9/11, even a tanking economy on the verge of utter disaster.  All we have to do is get the right people at the table, find enough donors, and use enough brawn, and we can handle any adversity that comes our way.

Except this.  But we’ll get it eventually, right?

The oil problem and a growing list of that which ails the world–cancer, AIDS, earthquakes, oil leaks–should reiterate to all of us that WE ARE NOT IN CONTROL.  The real question in this is simple: how do you respond when you realize that you’re not in control?  The answer to that question probably reveals a great deal about what you really think about God and who you really think you are in that context.  Do you throw your hands up and give up?  Run and hide?  Do whatever you want because it doesn’t matter anyway?  Live a more rigid lifestyle to control all the temporal things you possibly can?

I’m reminded of a phrase God the Father and Jesus the Son repeated in one way or another: “Do not be afraid, for I am with you.”