Gò0dNews for Men
What’s This World Coming To?
A
by Tommy Deal
s a product of the sixties (1960s), I heard the phrase, “What’s this world coming to?” countless times. There was the Vietnam War and the lack of respect for veterans
What must I do to effect the change I want and we need? I want peace in this world; I must be one who should work, act, and live so that it will happen. Let it be so through the love that
as they returned home. There were those who “dodged the draft”
I share. May I forgive as freely as I expect to be forgiven by God
to avoid participating. There were the murders of our president
and others.
and then his senator brother. There was the Civil Rights Movement and the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. There was the “new-fangled music” called rock ’n roll that was leading all young people down the slippery slopes. Alongside the music was the influx of psychedelic, mind-altering drugs and the so-called “Sexual Revolution.”
I have doubts, but may I have faith that overcomes them. “What is this world coming to?” is a cry of despair, but I have hope in the Lord of all creation. In this sad and dark world, I want to be a reflection of my Savior’s joy and light. I have thought about and prayed the familiar prayer of Saint Francis. Saint Francis was born in the town of Assisi in Italy in 1182. At the age of 20, he devoted himself to a life of prayer. Three years later, Francis embraced a life of poverty and dedicated himself to God. He was the founder of the Franciscan religious order. This prayer is attributed to him. Prayer of St Francis: Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.
Everyone was wondering and asking, “What IS this world coming to?” A lot has changed in 50 years, while nothing much has changed at all. Turn on the TV, radio, Sirius, or cable, and the news is reporting much the same thing with different names and locations. No one could have fathomed a virus disabling and perhaps dismantling this world as COVID-19 has. I am ashamed of how politics has modeled for us to treat one another with disrespect. I am heartbroken that our generation did not fix the problems: only propagated them. As a police chaplain, I have served alongside hundreds of dedicated men and women in law enforcement who themselves are ashamed and embarrassed by the acts of a few bad officers. I work with and interact with people of color daily who live with some fear because of the color of their skin. I am a white man, and because of who I am and where I live,
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen. It’s not about me! I do not need to be understood, consoled, loved, or cared for. I need to look at everyone I meet throughout every day and offer to them the understanding, love, care, and compassion they deserve and need. Lord! Please make me an instrument of your peace! For if we do not become the change we want for our world, we can imagine “what this world is coming to.”
sisters’ fears that have grown immeasurably due to the color of their skin. For this and all of my judgmental past, I repent. Yet there must be more than the “I am sorry” words off of my lips.
12 // September 2020
About The Author
I have basically no fears. I cannot comprehend my brothers’ and Rev. Tommy Deal is a hospice Chaplain with Hamilton Healthcare System in Dalton, Georgia. His wife,Rev. Susan Deal, is Minister of Music and Worship at Dalton’s First Baptist Church. They are parents to two sons, grandparents to twin girls and anticipating a new grand around Christmas of this year.
