A Postcard From Lawlessness

 

For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work;

but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so

till he is taken out of the way.

And then the lawless one will be revealed,

whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth

and destroy by the splendor of his coming.

The coming of the lawless one

will be in accordance with the work of Satan

displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders,

and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing.

They perish because they refused to love the truth and so to be saved.

For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion

so that they will believe the lie

and so that all will be condemned

who have not believed the truth

but have delighted in wickedness.

                                                                        — 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12 (NIV)

           

 

We just got back from Disney World, "The Happiest Place on Earth." It was time to show Maddy The Mouse. Boy, was she proud of herself for finally being tall enough for the "big" rides like Splash Mountain. Here she is, approaching the big drop, with her dad. Just look at that face:

 

 

 

 

Is there any place on Earth that gives you more pride in human imagination and ingenuity, than Disney World? Anywhere else that astounds you so much with color and motion and magic and music?

 

Of course, I love Disney World. But I have to tell you: if you go there, look out.

 

The first time we went was on our honeymoon. (Yes, it had just opened and we rode our dinosaurs there.) The second time was about 15 years ago, with our older three daughters. Yes, it was crowded . . . but the crowds were nothing like this.

 

Those crowds were cheerful and orderly. These crowds were . . . not.

 

Now, I still love Disney World and would never tell anybody not to go. It's an American tradition and every child's birthright! Just go in September or some other time when it's not so crowded. We went the day after New Year's, and the holiday weekend crowd - estimated at 100,000 people - was bound to have its challenges.

 

But have to tell you: I have never, ever been so disappointed in people.

 

I have never been so jostled and elbowed and knocked around and glared at.

 

I have never overheard so many cuss words and family fights.

 

I have never seen so many people cutting in lines, lying about their children's ages to get a better deal on buffets, and leaving their stuff out on the ground where others could trip on it . . . as Maddy did, plunging face-first onto the pavement, while the guy just shrugged and didn't even move his stuff.

 

Maybe it's because a large percentage of them were from foreign countries, here, no doubt, taking advantage of the exchange rate with the dollar's problems right now. They came so far and spent so much, I suppose they decided they had the right to act however they wished.

 

Maybe it's because we live in the heart of America with small-town values, where everybody still has a lot of space and tries to be somewhat polite. All I know is, I have never been in a crowd where all day, it seems like I and my family were the only ones saying "excuse me."

 

I have never been in a crowd when a fight broke out before. It was awful: a young adult had shoved a grandfather out of his way and knocked a little kid off his shoulders to the ground.

 

I have never seen toddlers writhing around on the pavement in loud temper tantrums while parents looked on helplessly and did nothing to stop it.

 

I have never seen small infants out in the January night air at 11 p.m., and so many disgusting Public Displays of Affection, and morbidly obese people busting out of their clothes but cramming still more high-calorie junk food into their pie holes.

 

Lord! What has happened to us?

 

Lord! Can THESE be YOUR people, Who You love?!?

 

The only thing that was kind of fun was that a little old Mr. Magoo type of guy, in a Mounties hat, wearing shorts, tried to hit on me. I was standing alone, and he said hi and asked what I was doing. Since he was 80-something, I figured it was safe to tell him I was waiting for my husband. He stuck his wrinkled face right in mine, and drawled with exaggerated eyebrow waggles:

 

"Well, little lady, if you were MY wife, I wouldn't be a-leavin' you around alone for somebody else to come along and steal!"

 

His name was Stan, so my family teased me the rest of our time about Stan the Man and our torrid love affair.

 

But then I got to thinking: what a "woild," that even an elderly gent like that would think it was OK to hit on somebody else's wife . . . especially in THAT hat and shorts.

 

We flew back, first to Kansas City because of our special airfare deal to Orlando, and then faced a 3 1/2-hour drive back to Omaha. On the way, I thought about all we'd seen.

 

The lawlessness and uncaring atmosphere of people at Disney World was a snapshot of what seems to be going on everywhere right now. Think about it:

 

·         Government sanctioning everything that everybody used to know was illegal, from abortion to homosexuality to gambling to taking people's property "for the greater good" to trying to abolish the death penalty.

 

·         Political corruption and deceit, from Presidential candidates John Edwards and Bill Richardson, to Govs. Rod Blagovich and Eliot Spitzer, and voter fraud by ACORN and the people who perpetrated the Al Franken debacle in Minnesota.

 

·         Illegal aliens getting away with lawlessness by the millions of instances . . . Bernard Madoff laying around in his penthouse while poor people go to jail for shoplifting groceries . . . huge payoffs for the creeps who caused Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the whole bailout thing, leaving the rest of us to clean up their mess. . . .

 

 

What is this world coming to?

 

Tsk, tsk.

 

All this lawlessness!!! It's EVERYWHERE!!!

 

Don't these people REALIZE what they're DOING?!?

 

Hmmm. Vanderbilt won their bowl game. MAYBE IT REALLY IS THE END TIMES!!!

 

. . . and all of a sudden, I heard a state patrol siren and saw the flashing lights in the rear-view mirror. Screech! My hubby braked and pulled over. We sat there humiliated.

 

We had been going 84 mph in a 70-mph zone.

 

BUSTED!!! SO, SO BUSTED!!!

 

The officer was darling, a humble smile on his handsome face, shining his flashlight in on an obviously exhausted but polite and humble family.

 

He let us off with a warning:

 

"There's a lot of deer crossing the road around here; just concerned for your safety; please obey the speed laws, and get home safe."

 

Whew! Thank you, Officer! Thank you!!!

 

Lawlessness . . . it's catching. It's so easy to slip into it. No matter how good you think you are, in the end, nobody's perfect. You just have to do the best you can to try to obey, all the time.

 

All we can hope, when we plunge down Splash Mountain that one last time, is that the Lawgiver who meets our roller-coaster car is as merciful and loving about our sins as He promised He was.

 

And that's a thrill that not even Walt Disney could match. †