The world seemed a little bit friendlier after the Olympics, and a little bit more hostile after Putin’s public displays.  It’s the eternal war between good and evil.  We’ve had good leaders here on earth, but never one like Jesus Christ, who had such an influence that many tried to be like him. Would that they had succeeded. We’d be a better civilization.

Yet each of us makes an impression, for better or worse.  The total effect is the average of all our efforts.  There must be some divine help in the results, otherwise we’d have a calamity.                                                                                                                                                                       

It is easy for me, who grew up in the Christ-centered West, to criticize Putin as self-centered.  To me, the man who grew up with Bolsheviks as “friends,” is evil, as were his ideals, Marx and Lenin.  That is not to say there’s no hope for him; a man can always revamp his character.  So few do that, however.

Vladimir would never opt for the difficult road, however, even though he’s doing that before Trump gets in again.  His look is cold, as is his soul.  He thinks he knows the future, uncertain as it is for us.  Like Stalin, he’s wasted talent.

There was a moment in Christ’s life when he appeared to Peter and James to emit radiant light, an event that is referred to as the Transfiguration.  It was an early showing of his eventual glory.  I believe God grants to each of us some preliminary displays of glory, but we’re too concerned with the things of this world to notice.  You might call it our mini-transfiguration.

It might just be a friend admiring our creative work, and we don’t notice the friend is enthralled.  There’s so much we miss.  Who, after all, notices all that God gives us in what is called life?

Stalin is said to have been poisoned to death, a fitting end to such a malevolent dictator.  The irony of it is that at the time, they were reluctant to call doctors, since he was persecuting them.  I don’t doubt he got his just desserts in this life, and the worst in the next.

There are some things that play out appropriately in this life, and little do we know what happens in the next.  Assurances of a next life are all around us, and who can plead he didn’t know about it.  I prided myself on my scientific knowledge, too.

Of course, I hope.  Isn’t that why we humans have that emotion?

Watching the Olympics.  But heard about the ending of the Super Bowl.  What a typical life episode!  Life is full of surprises, enough to make it exciting.  Who would have thought the last one and a half minutes of a Super Bowl Game would give a totally different view of the outcome.

With the view of life that comes after death, there must likewise be many surprises.  I mean who can predict another’s standing with the Creator?   So much depends on the attitude of the soul.  Remember, with Jesus Christ your intent counts more than your performance, though for old test-givers like me, performance is important.

Just keep praying.  I know then I’m in good graces with the Lord.