Good News ("Dreams", Part 2)

One more thing about the "vivid dreams" of PD (see previous post "Dreams") - I've often told my hubby that if I could write down these dreams, they would make great full-length movies. The nightmare would be along the lines of a Stephen King film...but it was far scarier than any movie I've ever seen. It was just evil. When I woke up, I was so relieved to finally "escape" the nightmare, but I was still afraid.

I reached for my Bible, started reading...and when I got to these familiar verses, that I've read and heard countless times before, they suddenly lit up my heart like the angels' sudden appearance to those shepherds out in the fields lit up the night sky:

And the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11)

In the midst of my darkness and fear, the angel's announcement was good news of a great joy! With the memory of being trapped in a horrible place fresh on my mind, the angel's message that there had been born for me a Savior - and that this Savior was, in fact, Christ the Lord...mind boggling!

And it occurred to me, that we (humans) are, in many ways, living out that nightmare. We live in a world of darkness and evil, of grief and pain. There is no escaping it - just look at a newspaper, or turn on the tv for 5 minutes - it's right there. Murder, abuse, theft, hatred, lies, selfishness, deceit, etc... It goes on and on. Our family visited the Holocaust Museum last year - I'll never forget the shoes...so many shoes...shoes of those who had been thrown into the gas chambers. It was overwhelming - incredible what evil is in this world, and what man's inhumanity to man is capable of...slavery, Ku Klux Klan, the killing fields, ethnic cleansing, human trafficking, etc... And then there's poverty, natural disasters, and of course, illness and disease. There is so much suffering in this world.

Case in point, I have an uncle who is very special, and I've loved him as far back as I can remember. He's my mom's sister's husband, so he's not really related to me by blood - but that doesn't matter one bit. They've always lived far away from us, but we would often get together over the summer for vacations. The best one was when I was probably around 10 yo - we camped across the country and back - east coast to west coast and back again, hitting as many states as we could along the way. It was such an awesome trip.

I think what I associate most with Uncle Dick is laughter and joy. He's always ready with a zinger, or to laugh at one that was pointed his way. When I picture him in my mind, it's either with a smile on his face, or quietly reading with his pipe in his mouth. He's gentle, soft-spoken, so kind, and so much fun! He taught my sister and I this crazy piano duet that we'd take turns playing with him every time we got together. I knew Uncle Dick was smart, but not until I was much older did I realize how smart...he's a PhD, and although now retired, he was a professor of physiology at a major university, and specialized in some kind of research that I don't even know how to spell without looking it up.

And now, Uncle Dick has Alzheimer's - and it breaks my heart.

We live in a messed-up world. There is evil, there is darkness, there is suffering...because of sin. And we are locked in - we can't escape. There's nothing we can do about it.

That's why this is such good news:

"Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

Good news, indeed.