The headlines have wrecked me this week. A pastor’s young, pregnant wife killed in a home invasion in Indiana. On Friday the 13th: Terrorist attacks in Paris. An earthquake in Japan. Funeral bombed in Baghdad. A suicide bombing in Beirut. An earthquake in Mexico. Probably a host of other tragic events I’m not aware of.

We live in a broken world that is filled with evil and its fruit. It is a world that sometimes makes me want to pull the covers over my head and hide.

It is a world that could induce great fear. In fact there is some wisdom to being aware and moving with our eyes wide open to the realities of the broken world we inhabit.

Yet as I’ve thought and prayed, I’m reminded we are to be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves. (Matthew 10:16). I’m reminded that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. (II Timothy 1:7). And I’m reminded that my real home is heaven. That when we truly believe in Jesus and what He promises, there can be a bedrock of faith that is unshaken no matter what tragedy we are confronted with (this blog post emphasizes this truth beautifully from the shooting in Indiana).

Our world is shattered by sin.

It will be until Jesus returns to this world as King.

Until that day I choose day by day whether I will live in fear of everything that could happen to me or my loved ones. Or I choose to walk in the peace that passes all understanding. The peace that says that God is with me (Joshua 1:9). The peace that says He will never leave me (Hebrews 13:5). The peace that rests on the promises of heaven, that this life is but a shadow of what awaits.

At the same time, I have much to live for. Much I want to see, experience, and change while I am here. I live with a clear sense that time is short. That I don’t control my destiny. I don’t know the number of my days, but I know Who does.

I know that not one thing happens to me that God doesn’t allow — even when I don’t understand.

I know that I get to choose which road I will walk in this life. That I will walk with wisdom, but that I will walk with an eye to do everything God has placed in front of me while I am here.

Every generation has faced heavy challenges. In the 14th Century it was the plague. Each generation has had sweeping wars. Slavery and human trafficking. Brokenness. Famine. Natural disasters.

And each generation has had one answer: God and His Son Jesus.

May we never forget. And may we pray for His healing touch and power in a world that so desperately needs Him.