HAL BRADY: When All is Falling Apart

An American cartoonist named Bill Watterson used to draw the comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes” (1985-1995). In one of those comic strips Calvin, the little boy, comes marching into the living room early one morning. His mother is seated there in her favorite chair. She is sipping her morning coffee. She looks up at young Calvin. She is amused and amazed at how he is dressed. Calvin’s head is encased in a large space helmet. A cape is draped around his neck, across his shoulders and down his back, and is dragging on the floor. One hand holds a flashlight and the other is holds a baseball bat. “What’s up today?” asks his mother. “Nothing so far” answers Calvin. “So far?” she questions. “Well, you never know,” Calvin says. “Something could happen today.” Then Calvin marches off saying, “And if anything does, by golly, I’m going to be ready for it!”

According to Bill Watterson, Calvin’s mother looks directly at the reading audience and says, “I need a suit like that!” And that’s the way we all feel at times as we face this troubling world of ours. We want a suit like Calvin’s so we can say along with him, “Whatever may happen, I’m going to be ready for it.” So what do we do when everything seems to be falling apart? We take our cue from the Psalmist!