THERE IS A WAY OUT OF AMERICA'S CRISES

THE ONLY WAY OUT IS UP!


In the 1950s, my husband and I lived in a cabin on top of Colorado's Tennessee Pass. Les was agent-telegrapher at the Pando railroad depot, across from Camp Hale, near Leadville.
One afternoon soldiers arrived on the train. A young man carrying his duffle bag gazed around in awe. “Mountains this way. Mountains that way. Mountains over there. Mountains over here. The only way out of this place is up!”
America finds itself trapped in a similar place.
Massive defense problems tower like sheer rock above. The War on Terror grew into three wars, while Iran and North Korea build nuclear weapons and Mexico’s drug war is at our border.
Radical Islamic countries hate us and with opportunity would harm the United States. We watched masses rioting and hoped for democracy, but discovered Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood gained power instead. We’ve heard about the Islamic caliphate, where Muslim nations seek to join politically to control the world.
Debt higher than Mount Elbert blocks our path, too, and apparently we are without climbing gear. A stalemate paralyzes Congress while politicians campaign for re-election, doing little to cut spending, or create jobs and increase revenue. Until a year ago, as one television pundit said, the Republicans were in a jar under the sink because Democrats held the House, the Senate, and the presidency. Before that, Democrats controlled Congress, yet the Senate hasn’t passed a budget in more than 1,259 days.
After the November 2010 election, House Republicans got busy, but their budget bills die on Harry Reid’s desk, while the president promises to veto the little that squeezes through. Democrats pull toward socialism; Repubicans toward smaller government. Neither moves.
At the same time, our society careens near the precipice on the dangerous curves of moral bankruptcy. Similar to the narrow highway over Battle Mountain, a way out of Camp Hale, we’re near the edge and in such a storm it’s difficult to see. Battle Mountain has few guard rails because highway crews need to shove the deep snow over the side.
Guard rails that historically steered our nation morally have been dismantled— The Ten Commandments nudged over the cliff. Children are taught to worship the created rather than the loving Creator. They grow up believing morality doesn’t matter. The Centers for Disease Control reports we kill 234 babies for every 1,000 live births. In 2008, CDC reports 825,564 legal abortions. Now Obama will require all insurance to offer abortion, including the morning-after pill, a way of killing a live fertilized egg by preventing it from attaching to the womb. CDC’s 2010 report on Sexually Transmitted Diseases identified STDs as one of the most critical health challenges facing our nation, with 19 million new infections each year costing the health care system $17 billion.
At the same time, Freedom of religion is being strangled while secularism becomes the national cult. On Dec. 2, 2011, the Family Research Council released this memo obtained from the Navy concerning Walter Reed Hospital in Maryland: “Navy officials have announced that ‘no religious items (including Bibles, reading material, and/or artifacts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit. FRC brought the memo to the attention of Congress and Rep. Steve King. After speaking to Walter Reed, they were assured the Navy was rescinding the policy.
Many of us love money, things and entertainment more than one another. A large number of couples no longer honor their marriage vows and in their search to find joy compromise everything important and thereby drop into the chasm.
We stand in the storm, mountains to conquer, but no longer have strength or tools to scale them. We require alcohol to have a good time or to soothe the conscience and kill the emotional pain. A good portion of our society seeks something stronger, according to the tons of illegal and prescription mind-altering drugs sold.
I believe with the soldier of years ago who said, “The only way out of here is up!”
Most of us are spiritually rooted in our Judeo-Christian heritage and believe in God. The Bible says, “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Why not give it a try?