I am not a prophet of gloom and doom but an optimistic realist, that is, I believe our nation is drowning in desperation. Our economy is in the toilet. Our ability to create employment opportunities is at a standstill. Our desire to work together politically in government for what’s best for our nation is nonexistent. And our moral climate has sunk below the surface of the water to an all-time low. We are in trouble as a nation and as a people.

I’ve heard the prognosticators claim that America has seen her better days—that what lies ahead will only get worse—sort of like watching one of those post-apocalyptic movies after the bombs explode and the smoke clears. I’ve read their reasons and seen their projections. I just don’t happen to believe it.

Now, I do agree with them on this one point—if nothing changes this is probably where we’re headed as a people, a culture, and a nation. The testimony of history demonstrates very clearly that when a nation tries with all its might to forget God—to ignore His laws—that nation implodes. It seems America is imploding. Oh, for sure, she has enemies outside her borders but her greatest enemy is herself—that’s you and me. Implosion, not explosions, will destroy America. Mark it down! You can take that to the bank with you. America, if or when she is destroyed, will not be struck down by a foreign enemy she will die by her own hand.

Perhaps you don’t want to hear this, but I told you in the beginning I’m a realist. I can’t ignore the facts. If we as a people expect change to occur and continue to do the same things, all the while hoping for different results—we are the biggest idiots history has ever witnessed. No things have to change, but not in the way most of those who hunger to lead this country have proposed.

I am also an optimist, but not because I see the glass half-full instead of half-empty. I am an optimist because I’m a man of faith—not faith in a government or even the people of this nation. No, my faith is in God—the God of the Bible—who is always faithful even when we as His people are not. Faith sees the invisible as visible—the not now as now. So in God’s economy it’s not too late until He sticks a fork in it and says it’s too late.

So what should we do? How should we respond in the dim light of this dire hour? Do we just give up? Sadly, that’s what many so-called Christians have already done. They’ve dug a foxhole, climbed in, and are now waiting for Jesus to rescue them like a saintly horde of selfish survivalists. “To hell with everyone else except me” is their gospel and this attitude is a major culprit of our present demise.

No, we can no longer hide in our holy bunkers and pray for things to get better—they won’t. It’s high time we crawl back out into the real world—you know, the one we whisper is headed to hell in a hand-basket—and start being the solution instead of moaning and groaning about the problems. Jesus really meant what He said about the necessity of our being the salt and the light.

Perhaps the present destiny of this nation will change if the people who claim to know God will get on their faces before Him and stop begging for their wants and start repenting for the sins of their nation. Yep—the sins of the nations are our sins not theirs. We’re responsible for allowing those who presently drive this doomed bus the opportunity to put their greedy little hands on the steering wheel. Our neglect and unconcern allowed them this opportunity and the only way their hands can now be removed is if God empties the bus and “Jesus takes the wheel” as Cary Underwood so eloquently put it. And the only way this will happen is if all those who claim to follow Christ actually start following Him. A good place to begin is on our knees.