It is 10:27 on Thursday night. I am depressed. As I browse the headlines of some of my favorite news sources, this is what I find going on in the world:

50 high school students contracted HIV in suburban St. Louis

Baby eats crack cocaine at a party

San Francisco working to legalize prostitution

Wave of job cuts sweeps across America

Not to mention– the markets keep falling all over the world. Everyone is scared. Every day there is a photo of a shocked NYSE trader in awe of the bottomless pit on every major news website.

And this is why I am refusing to look at the news. I could rant about how horrible this world is, but I will spare you. Instead, I will remember a promise that I can look forward to:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. (Revelation 21:1-8)