Dear sister Dawn, I feel the same way you do!  I don’t understand naysayers that refuse to see a difference between events of these days and events from the past!  It’s WAY different, and no one is going to convince me otherwise!  The weather, for one.  I was born in New Orleans, and raised in Houston.  When I was growing up in the 50’s and 60’s, we didn’t HAVE air conditioning. We ran attic fans all the time.  We had a TV that was B&W, and had a total of 3 channels on it, ABC, CBS and NBC.  If it wasn’t on one of those channels, you didn’t watch it!  It was HOT in the summer and cold in the winter (we actually wore coats back then!).  We kids played outdoors from sun up to sun down.  We played with toys that demanded imagination and skill… jacks, pick-up sticks, Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, etc.  We slept with our doors unlocked because no one bothered us.  We could walk out on streets at night without fear.  I only remember one hurricane growing up (there were probably more, but I don’t remember them if there were)… Carla.  And I thought it was really cool because we got to stay at the high school with everyone else that sought refuge there.  And I NEVER remember a tornado or an earthquake.  I remember REAL cold days in the winter (not cold like up north, but cold for us).  Groceries were cheap, service was good (remember full-service gas stations???), people were more honest (as a general rule), no one brought guns to school, principals gave swats when you misbehaved (then you went home and got more from your parents for disobedience to adults who were in charge!), I didn’t even KNOW what drugs were in school (I remember our science teacher telling us about the dangers of smoking pot, and he had a simulated smell of a joint), sex education told us girls how we were going to have our “monthlies” and how to abstain from sex, and stressed the fact that it was safer to be married than hopping from person to person, our high school song ended with “In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.”.  I respected my elders, and never even considered raising a hand to my parents.  I wrote poems in grade school about Yahshua, and was in Christian plays about the actual birth of Yahshua at Christmas time, and sang Christian Christmas carols in choir.  I could go on and on, but those of you who are near my age of 54 know how things used to be, and how people these days are just like 2 Timothy 3 said they would be in the last days!  I was raised Southern Baptist, too, Eric, and there was NEVER any consideration of having gay clergy or the like.  Baptists weren’t allowed to drink or dance, but we could have covered dish dinners!  ((grins))  We certainly didn’t sell out our morals to pacify the minority of people!  Well, you get the idea.  Anyway, things are WAY different now.  I’m glad to find out that I’m not the only one feeling that way lately… and since I don’t believe in coincidence where the Lord is concerned, I believe there’s a really good reason for our feelings of distraction, disconnection and discombobulation!  It’s MUST be close to time to leave this world… I hope so anyway!
 

LY both!

Peggy
www.his-forever.com