In my few decades on this Earth, I don’t recall a time when men were more determined to prove their collective stupidity. It’s as if every evening the world’s movers and shakers review that day’s events, and plot how they can come up with something even more ridiculous before sunrise. How else can you explain our new rule that children can choose whether they want to be a boy or a girl, that everybody has free access to everybody else’s bathroom, and that the NFL and PayPal can refuse to do business with people they disagree with, but people who live in North Carolina cannot? We are so full of ourselves that we can’t see how perfectly we are fulfilling Romans 1:22. Professing ourselves to be wise, we’ve become fools.
We make very few of the products we consume in America any more. Now, we buy all that stuff from foreign countries that don’t like us while we sell each other information, personal services, medical care, and food. Quite a financial infrastructure. More than 45 million Americans are on food stamps, and Gallup reported last year that only 44% of Americans over the age of 18 have a full-time job. Meanwhile, the deficit widens and our national debt is now more than our total economic production.
Blah! For the past three weeks, I’ve traveled around the sun cradled in my worn oversized recliner. My bout with the flu evolved into my first experience with pneumonia. My family has tolerated my occupation of our living room in good humor, even offering me popsicles and jello from time to time.
The idea isn’t my own, but it’s a good one. I’m not sure I can point to a specific verse to give it scriptural sanction, but in the dust and sweat of every day living, it’s worth mulling over.
I’ve been thinking about love. Not so surprising, I guess, considering that yesterday was Valentine’s Day.
Forty million Americans 
Your next President is a 74-year-old carpenter, film maker, and politician. He plans to raise your taxes, give you free universal healthcare, make college a free ride for all, raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, force large banks to downsize, guarantee you 12 weeks of paid medical and family leave to go with at least two weeks paid vacation, and start a universal child care program for children 0-3.
I’m not all that old, but I remember when the first “point and shoot” cameras came out. Remember the old Instamatics? Drop in a film cartridge, spin the little wheel a couple of times with your thumb, and you were ready to go. No lens settings to worry about, no rings to adjust. Just aim, click, and wind.
Happy New Year!
If our nation’s collective behavior could be diagnosed this week, I am sure we would be pronounced mentally ill.