Do You Hear What I Hear? Peace 11am

I’m writing this on December 7. 82 years ago, just before 8am on a Sunday morning, Japanese fighter planes attacked Pearl Harbor and damaged or destroyed 20 naval ships and 300 aircraft; killing 2400 in the process. The next day the United States declared war on Japan. A few days we were officially at war with Germany too.

The human cost of WWII was staggering … 15 million military deaths, another 45 million civilian deaths. 25 million wounded. The United States lost over 400,000. The Soviet Union 24,000,000.

Why is peace so difficult and elusive? 

I doubt there has ever been a time when all were at peace.

Major conflicts rage on in The Ukraine, in Burma, in Gaza, In the Sudan. There are dozens of “lesser” battles at any given moment. Who would choose war over peace? Only the unbalanced.

Something has gone terribly wrong. Even when it doesn’t come to blows, bombs, and bullets there is a lack of peace in our communities, our homes, our closest relationships, and inside each of us too. 

Peace is much more than a temporary pause in outward conflict … Peace brings a sense of wholeness, of contentment, of compassion, of love, and understanding. That’s what we need. That’s the miracle we pray for. There is no human answer for our lack of peace. It takes a work of God changing human hearts, to bring real peace. Visitors from the East traveled a great distance that first Christmas because they believed Jesus was not your typical king … they believed He was much more … they were right. Jesus is our only source of peace, lasting peace, power, lasting power. May we be His people of Peace.