On a recent autumn morning, I stood transfixed, and watched the first glorious rays of the sun break the horizon. Oh, it was beautiful! I felt a surge of joy. It was invigorating. Well that night, at 6:56 P.M. from a commanding overlook, I watched that same blazing sun sink below the horizon. It was a strange mix of feelings. As its last rays disappeared, I felt a strange sense of loss, almost a feeling of panic, especially as I turned and looked over the city below me. The brilliant colors that were there a moment ago were gone. The whole city was bathed in darkness and gloom.

Ours is a world of stark contrasts. The earth in its natural state is a thing of beauty; it was created by God. It bears glorious witness of its creator. Yet, for all of its beauty, the sun is setting on the society that inhabits it. Our civilization plunges deeper and deeper into darkness, gloom, and filth. What do we do? What can we do? Well, I don’t have all the answers, but maybe in this story there is a partial answer.

Not long ago I overheard a conversation between members of my family and a friend. They were complaining about the ills and evils of certain television programs. I stood and listened. After some time they dispersed and I walked into the room.

One of my daughters looked at me and she said, “Oh, Dad, [ah,] my stomach hurts.”

At that moment a bizarre idea struck me. Dad is always a teacher.

“I know just what to do,” I said, and I ran upstairs.

When I returned I asked her to show me exactly where it hurt. And she did. And as she did, I pulled a Band-Aid out of my pocket and I stuck it on her tummy. She gave me the strangest look.

“There,” I said with triumph, “doesn’t that feel better?”

“No,” she said laughing.

“It doesn’t?” I said, playing stupid. “Well, then I know just what’ll fix it for sure.”

She laughed even harder when – when I bent over and kissed her tummy boo-boo.

I looked up at her to see if she understood what I was doing. Not surprisingly, she –
she was completely clueless. She had no idea what I was doing. So I – I reminded her of the recent gripe session about the television program.

Ah! It took a few minutes, but she came to see that griping and whining about the world’s problems are just about as effective as a Band-Aid on a bellyache.

“Don’t gripe!” I said. “Do something!”

Now my friends, there are too many in this world today who just want to kiss society’s boo-boos and hope they’ll go away. They won’t! Hasn’t history taught us anything?

Now, this is my point: Those with the power of truth must be – they must be doctors to a sick and dying world, or be responsible for the death of it. Come, come all ye sons and daughters of God who bear the covenant of Abraham. The sun is nigh to setting.