The Walking Dead

 There is a series on AMC called “The Walking Dead.”  The story is about a group of survivors that are trying to survive in a world that has been overtaken by zombies.  That’s right, it’s a zombie apocalypse.  The show has yet to explain exactly how the apocalypse started, but we see all kinds of zombies walking around and terrorizing the survivors.  They have to do whatever it takes to survive and live as the world around them is in complete chaos.  Although the show is a drama and not just a zombie killing action flick, the focus is still on the zombies.    

The zombies or walkers are trying to do one thing, and that one thing is feed.  There is no emotion behind the vacant eyes of these zombies.  They will do whatever it takes to eat.  Some sort of disease or chemical warfare caused this outbreak to occur.  When it did, it sucked all the life out of those that have become zombies.  If you are bitten or somehow get the blood of a zombie in an open wound, you too will eventually become a zombie.  You will become a mindless, emotionless, single goal oriented being.  You will want to do nothing but feed.

So the question is do we have walking dead in today’s world?  I believe that we do, in fact, I believe that at one point in time we have all been the walking dead.  I believe that we have all at times found ourselves in a vegetative state where nothing mattered and we were not motivated to do anything.  This may have been a lazy Saturday of watching football and sitting on the couch, or it might have been a sick day in bed, drained of all energy.  Maybe something bad happened to you like a death in the family, or a boyfriend or girlfriend broke up with you.  When you are in the “walking dead” state, you just don’t care about anything and lack any kind of motivation.  I think this has happened to everyone at some point in their lives. 

There are also people in this world that sort of stay in that state during life.  Yes, they have a job, a husband or wife, money, hobbies, a team to cheer for, and a home to live in, but they just aren’t fulfilled.  No matter how many material things they have they seem to have an empty hole that no matter what they do just doesn’t seem to be filled.  I think these are the true “walking dead” out in the world today.  I think these are people that need help that need someone to talk to and need to either find Jesus for the first time, or make him the center of their world. 

These people are easily overlooked because they look like you or me.  They have what they need in life and our well off, but inside they aren’t complete.  They are missing that special something that makes life exciting and wonderful.  Unlike the zombies of the apocalypse, they need to be fed in a different way.  They need to be fed with the love of Jesus.  They need to center themselves and allow him to lead them through life.  By having Jesus as the center of their lives, everything will fall into place.  Life will be more vibrant.  They will not be stumbling through life like “the walking dead”. 

This may or may not be a constant feeling that you have inside you.  If it is I want to encourage you to go and find someone in the church to counsel you and help you to answer those questions you have about the emptiness you have inside.  If you don’t those feeling, I encourage you to be on the lookout for those that do.  Talk to people about their faith and make sure that they understand that Jesus loves them no matter what.  Invite them to your church and help them to be comfortable in their new surroundings.  We may never see AMC’s version of “The Walking Dead”, but if we aren’t careful, we could have our own earthly version of “the walking dead” and there are more zombies out there right now than you may think.