I haven’t posted for over a week due to being out of the country. While I was away, I had enough access to the news from the US (tariffs, deportations, market collapse, etc), that I actually had “anxiety dreams”–something I had not experienced in years. I dreamt that I had been arrested for my blog posts. I dreamt that I wasn’t able to get back into the United States. I dreamt that the dollar was worthless.
It happened several nights in a row. And each morning I would awake, wondering if I would return to the same United States that I had left just a week before. The news cycle indicated that it was indeed different–and not in a good way.
I shared my dreams with my wife, who wisely reminded me that I needed to stay focused on God’s word and not on the circumstances that were out of my control. She has been using Psalm 90:1-2 as her daily focus and suggested that I pray that God would give me a verse as well. I did; and God did.
The next morning, I was awakened not with an anxiety dream, but with the voice of Jesus, repeating a phrase over and over. It was his last words to his disciples before leaving: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b) I’ve been repeating it daily ever since.
I was able to get back into the country. I haven’t been arrested (at least not yet). The shit show is still shitty as ever. (It’s the only word I have to describe it.) I have no illusions about the state of our democracy and the struggle we may face. But I think about those early church disciples and their “Roman Reality.” They faced opposition, and they experienced rejection. They were falsely accused; they were jailed; they were beaten; some even died. But they still spoke the truth and stood firm, and they even found joy together in the middle of their struggle, singing hymns in chains. I can imagine that they repeated Jesus’s final words as their morning mantra. And then they got out of bed and walked by faith.
Yes, Christ is with us. Always. Even to the end of the age. Yes. This age will end, and Christ will still be with us. Always. No matter what. Always.
Tongue on Fire 