The past few weeks have really stressed out the American public. And, rightfully so. I was talking to my dad on the phone earlier this week about the stock market and the losses and bailout ad nauseam. My dad and I are very similar: we look similar, we have some of the same spending habits, when either of us are stressed out it is obvious (we don’t hide our feelings very well). And in this conversation, I was the only one stressed out. We talked about the economy could cripple the job market, how he and I could lose our jobs if the spiral downward kept going. We talked about how his retirement and investments are losing money every day, and how my retirement in its infancy should be ok in the long run. And throughout this entire conversation, he would say things like: “yep, it’s gonna be tough,” “well, whatcha gonna do...” And I finally said to him: “Dad, I am watching CNN and the DOW Jones like a maniac and getting depressed...and I don;t have as much in this to lose as you do or the majority of investors. Why do you seem to not care about this?” And my dad said these brilliant words of wisdom: “Well, what happens happens. You need to stop watching this stuff. Don’t get depressed, it isn’t good for you.”I have meditated and thought about those simple, non threatening words from my dad. These are certainly different words than I receive from CNN and drudgereport.com. Why is my dad, who I am very much a carbon copy of, not stressed out? And it hit me, my dad is not living his life around these economic successes or failures. He isn’t depending on a presidential candidate to fix everything. He knows that none of that will probably happen...because what happens will happen. Now, my dad is not some super spiritual giant who makes blasé statements like “God is in control.” But you know what, whether he says it often in cliche or not, I know my dad has a hope in Christ. And in the midst of all this stress, my own walk with Jesus seems to be challenged. I am responding differently than him on many of these issues.
We are 30/31 days away from electing a new president. I am into the debates and the whole thing. I read blogs, watch jibjab.com, youtube videos...I love it. I have watched our culture base our existence and hope of survival on these two candidates. Let me tell you: no political party has that power. Too many people in our culture live with these candidates as hope...one article I read even called a candidate the Hope of the World. Friends, when we live like this, we are in real danger.
Living with Jesus as Lord in our lives has nothing to do with that type of thinking. This week, I have been challenged a great deal by this little phrase: Jesus is my Lord. For this to be reality for most of my week, Jesus would be the focus of my thoughts and actions instead of CNN, blogs, calendars, facebook, and the DOW Jones. All these things are not bad, they are actually quite helpful at times. But I tend to catch myself, in my journey, looking at other influences to drive my time, energy, mood, and general outlook on life. See, with Jesus as Lord, all these things (facebook, CNN, blogs, etc.) are put under a different filter and lens, and my outlook becomes more like a “what happens happens.” I am not apathetic, I am balanced and hopeful because I live with Jesus as Lord.
take the risk,
n
