Is It Really That Bad?
Nov/081
It's no mystery that our country's economy has hit a rough patch. It was THE issue in the presidential campaign. Our government is issuing bailouts-a-plenty. People are losing their jobs at a troubling rate. It's definitely no picnic right now.
But I've got to wonder…are things really that bad? If your job is on the line or you've actually lost your job, I don't want you to think I'm minimizing your situation. I pray that you find steady employment very soon.
But when I hear things like, "This is The Great Depression 2," it makes me want to examine the situation a little more closely.
Let me ask a few questions.
Can I make a simple observation? If you had a positive answer to most, or all, of those questions…you are blessed. Yes, things in our economy are shaky. We don't know exactly what's going to happen. But people who lived through The Great Depression would probably have given a negative answer to every one of the questions I listed.
As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, keep in mind that we really do have a lot to be thankful for. Even during "The Great Depression 2."
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10:28 am on November 26th, 2008
Just about 16 years ago, my wife and I were struggling to get by… I mean realllly struggling. We had a child in the hospital, my wife was recovering from the emergency c-section that she had endured to give birth to our first child, and we had sold all most all of the things that had any value in our house. On one of the toughest days, we put my wife's wedding ring in hock at a pawn shop in Dayton, Ohio.
I was trying to find work and I was too proud to look for public assistance (youth has some stupidity that comes along with it). I remember it was around the February time frame and I was in a class to learn how to sell insurance door-to-door (another stupid idea) and one of the people in the class said that we, as Americans, were blessed because most of us could go to the ATM and pull $50 out if needed. I looked at him and told him that I could not. He was surprised by that.
But, even though we worried for most of that year how we would make it through the next day – we WERE blessed – not financially, but because we had each other.
Our daughter spent 6 months in Children's hospital in Dayton and there were many times that we could not go visit her because we didn't have the gas money to drive there or the $1 it cost to pay for parking.
I do recall one night that my wife and I had fought (probably about finances) and I took off in my car not knowing where I would end up. I ended up at Children's hospital in the wee hours of the morning. I sat down in a rocking chair and held my baby daughter and just sang to her. I was 21… flat broke… not sure how I could ever take care of her. She had so much going against her and I felt that I had nothing to offer her….except love. So I sang to her and I held her.
I have those memories to remind me that God has brought our family a world away from those times. We have WAY too much… we are blessed. But most importantly – we are blessed because we still have each other and we praise God together.
Samuel erected a stone as a reminder to the children of Israel that God had brought them through a lot… it was also a reminder that God was still at work and that He would provide into the future. That stone was called Ebenezer (the stone of help). We all need to erect an Ebenezer to remind us of where God brought us from, where He has us, and where He is taking us. God is good all the time….all the time, God is good.
Have a blessed Thanksgiving Holiday.