Do you remember this exact date, January 1st— 18 years ago?
I was living in sin with Saul. He had more hair and my boobs were real. Other than that, it was pretty much the same as it is now.
We partied like it was 1999 (because it was), but there was a definite foreboding in my heart. I worked at a TV station in Milwaukee. The big story for weeks had been the debate over whether the world would end when all the computers switched from 99 to 00. Would they know how to do it? Would banks and businesses be down for the count leaving us flailing until some amazing IT guy could sort everything out? People were stocking up on gallons of water and canned corn just in case.
I woke up on January 1st, 2000 incredibly grateful to find that things were rolling along smoothly. I hadn’t been called in to work because the world was ending. No news was good news.
I had a flashback to that time just this morning. 2000… a whole 18 years ago. How can I be that old? Where did these three kids come from? How could I ever have thought that computers would cause that much chaos in our world?
But maybe not all that much has changed.
I got an Amazon Echo for Christmas and my bestie totally freaked out. You can’t put that in your home! It listens to everything you say! It memorizes your voice. Did you know there is a scientist developing a computer chip to put in our brains? We are all going to be turned in to robots. Humanity will be gone! The only thing left will be computers!
I hadn’t even thought about the possibility of Alexa taking over my household. I wonder if she’ll do my laundry? Clearly I have more of a “Meet George Jetson” view on robots than my dear friend.
The fact is, I don’t know if computers are planning to take over our lives. I don’t know if the canned corn is still sitting in some lady’s basement in a suburb of Milwaukee. I don’t even know what I’m going to have for dinner tonight.
But I do know one thing. Just one.
God is still in control.
That’s what I go to when the fingers of fear slide into my mind and the shadows park at my feet. At the end of the day, He has a plan laid out that includes something good for me, and for all of us who say “Yes God, please be Lord of my life. I can’t do this alone.”
My heart wasn’t really ready to believe that truth back on January 1st, 2000. It took me a while to get here, but I’m glad I did.
No, things won’t always be pretty or orderly. Sometimes we’ll see the typhoon forming and wonder if we’re going to drown. But knowing just one thing— that God is still in control— will help us fight back the fear and ride out the waves for many new years to come.