This blog entry has been a few weeks in the making. Part of the reason is that I find myself so busy with my job, with leading and developing Hands of Hope, with the four classes I am taking and, most importantly, trying to be a good husband and father. The other part of the reason has been that I haven’t really felt like I had anything to say of any significance. I have had a few fleeting ideas but nothing has stuck out and said “write about me!” My goal with the blog entry is not just too fill up space but to write something that is meaningful. I hope today’s blog entry falls into the category of having some meaning to it. Here it goes.

            As most of you know, Hurricane Ike came on shore about 2 weeks ago today. As it moved inland, it created strong winds to much of the mid-west that is not normally used that those strong winds. As the winds came through the Cincinnati area, it knocked down some large trees and it knocked out power to most of the people in this region. There were some people who didn’t lose power at all, some for several hours. At our house, we lost power for a total of 84 hours. During this time we lost some food but were able to save much of our food thanks to my parents allowing us to store food in their freezer. We were also able to buy some ice to store some of our items. Overall, losing power for 84 hours was more of a nuisance than anything else. It was a disaster, it wasn’t a struggle, it was a nuisance.

            What I was concerned about was the amount of anger that people displayed. There were reports of fights at gas stations as some for the stations were closed due to lack of power and the open gas stations running out of gas. There were reports that people pulled guns on people at gas stations and even shooting guns at the people who were trying to restore power to their houses. I heard so many complaints that were way out of proportion to the level of discomfort that was created by the wind storm.

            My thought is this: if people got so stressed out over what was really no more than a nuisance, what would happen if a real disaster took place. What would happen if a whole power grid went out. What would people do then? With the very real possibility of a financial crisis coming to our country in the very near future, what will be people’s reactions if we enter into a depression that approached the depression of the 1930’s. I have a feeling that we would see people react very strongly, possibly killing others, killing themselves, looting and stealing; that people would tremble out of fear of the circumstances they find themelves in.

            Why would they do this? I think very simply it will be because people put their trust in the “system”, and when the “system” fails they have no where else to turn.

            As a follower of Christ my trust is not in the “system” but in God. He is able to see me through any and every circumstance that I find myself in (see Isaiah 49:15-16; see also Matthew 6:25-36). This doesn’t mean that there won’t be collateral damage that I experience if the economy fails or if a power grid goes out. It just means that I won’t fear or be especially anxious about the outcome because I know God will take care of me and my family. That is a great thought and an incredible promise.

            Who or what do you trust?

            “Lord, help us trust you more!”

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 27th, 2008 at 8:36 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.