I’m Fixing to Keep On Living

(Editor’s Note: Ted Dunagan is taking a break from writing his column. For the next few weeks, The Monticello News will feature some columns that ran previously.)

I’m fixing to keep on living.

Much to my relief the world didn’t end on Tuesday when the date was six-six-six, nor did it end on 12-31-1999, at the turn of the Century, or on May 21, 2011.

There have been several theories as to this ending, none of which have panned out yet, obviously.

People have been predicting the end of the world for a long time. Some of them do it just to draw attention to themselves, and if they are a pretty well known celebrity then people will be gullible enough to listen to them.

If you read the bible, it’s pretty clear. It tells us that no one knows the time and that our Savior will come like a thief in the night, meaning it will be when no one really expects it and certainly not when some mortal predicts it.

My first wife predicted the world would end when I quit paying her alimony. It didn’t.

My momma predicted the world would end when my daddy quit smoking and drinking, but it didn’t.

Six-six-six has come and gone, as has the turn of the Century and May 21, and this old world keeps ticking along.

We think that we have power over what happens, but we don’t. What happens in the world happens and how we respond to it defines our destiny in the hereafter.

What the hereafter is we don’t know. It’s a mystery.

Our infinite Creator maintains a mystery about our time in this place, and our time in the next place, so make the best of it because He’s watching. You can bet your boobie on that.

The only reliable prediction you can count on is that the sun will come up tomorrow and that your power bill will be in the mail box.

I’m fixing to just keep on keeping on.