At last glance, our national debt is in the neighborhood of $37 trillion. 

 Don’t even attempt to compute that number.

 Add in the unfunded governmental promises and business, personal, property and student debt, and Americans owe somebody over $100 trillion.

We’re not going to honor those loans.

Just like we cheated to get these funds by pretending that we — as in our government and the rest of us — had the capacity to handle our opportunities, we’re now going to cheat some more by pretending we’re going to uphold our responsibilities.

Never has the American Dream been in greater jeopardy.

You know the drill — hard times produce strong men; strong men produce easy times; easy times produce weak men; and weak men produce hard times. 

Welcome to wussy-men times.

If you doubt that we’ve arrived, take a gander at the price of gold. Since covid descended, it’s gone from $1,500 to $4,000 an ounce. 

There is only one substantial reason for that – we’re in... and about to get deeper into challenging times.

Prepare yourself for an acceleration of media handwringing, blame game theatrics, protests, run for the exit retirements, shyster solutions and “socialism is the answer” nonsense.

What we’re facing is the fact a person, a community, a state, a country and a world can run from reality. None of these entities can run from the consequences of running from reality.

OK, that’s a quick – and I hope I’m wrong – gloom and doom summation of current events.

So, on the chance I’m unfortunately right, what does a person do amidst all this looming bad stuff?

Get your personal house in order; reduce your debt as much as possible; and review your faith foundation.

Hurricane Helene hopefully taught you something about having a supply of water, food, and medicine.

Have ways to keep yourself warm.

Be prepared to defend yourself and your family. Those willing to put their own lives at risk with a lack of preparation, bad decisions, immature lifestyles, and “fly now, pay later” thinking, will have no hesitancy in ruining your life, too, if desperation becomes the order of the day.

Believe it or not, if things get goofy, having entertainment will be important. Stocking up on books, DVD’s, boardgames, etc., will be much appreciated if the world drifts further into places unknown.

If this happens, it will not likely be a “Snake Plisskin does New York” kind of thing.

A more accurate description will follow what combat veterans experience — “Hours of endless boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror.”

 Is there anything else?

Though the temptation will be to face the bedlam with political pretense – the empty promises of socialism burn brightly amidst the darkness of social chaos – it’s in moral mutiny we’ll find hope and recovery.

Join the right rebellion. 

We’ve been so seduced by the notion that government is the answer to all that ails us, that we’ve gotten casual about taking care of us.

Consider doing your part to start remedying that. Start investing more in your fellow man.

Jesus called that “charity” – one of the words the Bible uses to describe “love.”

We all – from the best of us to the worst of us – need to start thinking more about that four-letter word.

It’s the only currency we have that cannot be stolen, corrupted, debased or wasted.

How’s that work?

Take a moment to peruse the Bible and the 91St Psalm.

There you’ll find a simple formula for surviving hard times.

The 91st Psalms says a lot of things, but mostly it says one really big thing — that if you’ll live in God’s stated will, he will place his angel’s before you and soften the way through a hard world. 

What’s God’s will?

Jesus was clear about that too and it all tracks back to that earlier mentioned four-letter word — love. 

Get busy loving God and your fellow man.

There will be no easy paths through the darkness ahead, but this is my view on the brightest light we have.

Where to start?

I’ve been thinking about that too.

I’ve come up with a tangible way I personally can step out of my normal routine and bring a little unanticipated light into someone’s world.

Consider taking a few moments for yourself and read the 91st Psalm.

Ponder how it might be a good play in today’s crazy world. 

Consider how you might bring it to fruition.