Thursday, June 25, 2009

written the following day

I am finally convinced that the world is indeed coming to an end. Soon I will be raptured and all the other suckers will be left to deal with their bad decisions! The dispensationalists were right! How do I know? Well, for goodness’ sake, haven’t you been watching the news? Iran is in major disruption, the US beat Spain in soccer (what?!), and then in one week we lost Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson! This was Thursday: the loss of both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, anchoring the culmination of the craziest news ever and it all happened in roughly a week’s worth of time.

It was mayhem, it seemed, even if it was only mayhem I was watching on TV. Not that Kentucky was particularly affected by it anyway. Not that much of any actual city was affected by it except LA and New York, the unofficial (and oft resented) capitals of the bicoastal United States (which I remark because the Gulf coast doesn’t really count unless there’s a hurricane).

And there you have it. I’m just waiting for the clouds to part and God to say, “It’s time to come home,” and—poof—all that will be left is a small pile of neatly folded clothes. It’s nice that the Holy Spirit makes the extra touches.

Other than that, I drove a bit today. This is nothing new. I drive sometimes in my friend’s car, but today was not a good day. Today I drove in rush hour and I realized that with enough cars on the road, I still feel really nervous when I’m in the car. I’m constantly afraid I’m not paying close enough attention or that a car is going to go out of control and I’m going to get stuck in the mess of it. This is the problem with bad car accidents—it forces you to recognize that you don’t really have control, you simply have the illusion of it, and if everyone plays the illusion long enough and doesn’t forget, you should get to where you’re going fairly easily. But the reality is that everything balances on a thread when you’re driving (especially in Kentucky!), and you really never know. So today I was more than relieved to pull back into the dorm parking lot and get out of the car. I was also annoyed that nearly a year later, I’m still so affected. It’s good to be a cautious driver. It’s not so good to be a nervous one.