Now Is The Time

   Back in the days of the typewriter, (For those of you who are too young to know about typewriters, they were machines with keys like a computer, but without the... O never mind.) As I was saying, when I was younger and learning how to type, my father taught me to practice by repeatedly typing “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.” I recently learned that a teacher, Charles Weller, introduced the sentence as a typing drill. Back then, it ended with the word “party” rather than “country;” someone later substituted the word “country,” because it fills up a 70-space line to the last space. To this day, I can nearly double my typing speed if I type only that sentence, though I have found it makes a very boring letter, and confuses my recipients.

  I’m sure that Mr. Weller could not have known how apropos his little typing drill would be in 2006. No, not to nimble the fingers of young typists, but as a statement of truth, a fitting call to action!

  It is a fearful thing to gaze upon the weakening moral fiber of our nation, to examine the many spiritual, social, economic and political dividing lines that make us anything but “One Nation Under God.” Never has there been a greater need than today, for good men, men of God, to come to the aid of our beloved country.

  But what is a good man to do? I believe the answer can be found in the words to an old hymn, “Take my life and let it be, consecrated Lord to thee.” We need men, women, boys and girls who will give themselves wholly and holy to God. How?, through faith in Jesus Christ, who loved you enough to die for your sins, but rose from the dead, Victor over sin, death and hell.

  So, before you can be what our country stands in need of, you’ll have to receive what you stand in need of, forgiveness and reconciliation with God, through Christ.