Sound waves

I love listening to the radio...probably because growing up in our house, there was always a radio on, sometimes in addition to a TV (that's my dad  ;)  . 

Weekdays are for talk radio and weekends are for NPR: Car Talk, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, and This American Life. I know ~ I've always been a little eclectic in my tastes...Deadhead who has always leaned to the right and has loved Jesus for more than half her life (and tried to follow Him the last 10 years)...so for me, this is consistent.

This weekend my Sunday/Monday drive to Kansas enabled me to listen to several solid hours of each. I've always recognized the contrast in world views, but back to back and so many hours of it...it was stark.

I love and appreciate the humanity and the stories featured on This American Life. The humor and compassion used to illustrate the forgotten and sometimes tragic always compels me. But days later, I haven't gotten over the repeated theme of secular humanism I hear in those stories...mainly, the idea that there is an evolution of morality...that with the years and generations, man becomes better.  And eventually we'll get it right.

It's just false...I know that left to my own devices, I am not good. Nothing good lives in me...in my head, in my actions. You know, that whole  Romans 7  conundrum. If I was not compelled into the Light each moment, I would be one doughnut-eatin', slack-jawed, TV-watching, angry, judgmental, jealous, no-good momma with kids who were bent the same way. Some of you have experienced glimpses of this momma. I'm even leaving the really bad stuff off the list. That is my default mode ~ appealing, n'est-ce pas? Wanna share a cup of tea with her?

The only thing that brings me to good is the Holy Spirit knocking on my heart saying, "You tried this once and it didn't turn out so good" or "How many people will you hurt if you do this?" (There are many more examples of Holy Spirit whispers, I'm sure.) Some call that a conscience ~ I believe it is further confirmation for the existence of Our Creator. My dad once asked me if I had ever done something that no one would ever know about, but still felt rotten and couldn't easily get it out of my mind? "That's God," he said. 

And even that is too easy to ignore. Even so, those propensities creep in and need to be fenced in. Some days the darkness is easier to beat back than others, and some days the lights are out. Hence my need for Godly fellowship (love you, Jesus freaks,) reading the Word (ahem...consistently, not my forte,) and attending Celebrate Recovery (hooray!!! that's a story for another day.) 

I'm not a historian or an anthropologist, but I don't believe that the collective soul of humanity has made any improvements. Are we still allowing the killing of babies? Are children still sold into the hands of lascivious deviants? Am I not at any moment a few decisions away from being in the pits of addiction or despair? Yes.

We are not becoming better ~ I need a Voice to remind me there is more and better offered to me and a Hand to haul me out of my pits. We all do.