By Ron Hutchcraft

There's a mountain in northern New Jersey that has an intriguing view. It's called Garrett Mountain, over the city of Paterson, New Jersey. In the 1980s, Paterson happened to be the fourth poorest, middle-sized city in America. Now, if you had driven around that city then and that's all you saw, you would think the whole area of north Jersey was poor. But just beyond Paterson on the horizon, you can see some of the wealthiest communities in America.

Poor Uncle Billy. It's a wonderful life in the Christmas classic movie - until Uncle Billy can't explain to the bank examiners what happened to $100,000 in cash. That he misplaced.

Talk about a weird winter. Oh, not where I grew up. We didn't just have a white Christmas. We sometimes had a white Thanksgiving, a white Valentine's Day - maybe even a white Easter.

By Ron Hutchcraft

Lately, the world seems to be continually changing. War. Inflation. Pandemic. Economy. Nuclear. Future uncertainty. As followers of Jesus, how should we respond? How can we be like the men of Issachar, "who understood the times and knew what (they) should do?" (1 Chronicles 12:32) Here are six bold steps to navigate uncertain times.

A little girl's father was the captain of an ocean liner that sailed between London and New York. On one voyage across the north Atlantic, a major storm surprised him and was really blowing that ship around. Everyone was asleep in their cabins, including the captain's daughter and mother. They were sleeping, until the ship really pitched and the girl was thrown out of her bed. Her mother said, "Are you okay?" And she said, "Yes, I'm okay." Her mom asked, "Are you afraid?" To which the girl asked, "Is daddy still on deck?" And mom said, "Yes, he is. He's the captain." The girl said, "Then I'm going back to bed. I'm okay. Because daddy's still on deck."

It's a strange combination.

The week we've been told there will be so much pandemic dying that it will be "this generation's Pearl Harbor."

And then there's Easter. Definitely a unique, "no frills" Easter to be sure. But Easter. The high point of the year for Christians.

I've discovered there are actually two Manhattans. One, the madness and mayhem on the street. Two, the breathtaking view from the top of a Manhattan skyscraper. One just stresses you out. The other "peaces" you out. The perspective from that observation deck is a whole other vibe!

North Dakota's a long way from Wuhan, China. But our friend Wes has been seeing more and more customers wearing masks in the local Walmart. He says he's going to start telling them "to calm down." Thinking of how fear can spook the stock market, he commented, "Then I'm going to thank them for destroying my 401(k)."

Lots of commencement speeches this time of year. Most of them, pretty predictable. "Live up to your potential." "Follow your dreams." "The sky's the limit."

But there has never been a commencement speech like the one at Morehouse College this year. Billionaire businessman Robert Smith set 396 graduates free in one day.

Zero visibility. And I was driving in it.

All I could think of was those disturbing images of 50 vehicles smooshed in some fog-caused pileup. Thankfully, I made it. But it is scary driving when you have no idea what's ahead.

Which pretty much describes how a lot of folks feel about the times we're living in right now. As Bob Dylan said - "the times, they are a changing." We're just not sure where the road's going.