There's A Storm Coming

One of the first things I do in the morning after getting out of bed is look outside.  It's a habit I developed years ago.  It has stayed with me throughout my life.  It isn't very profitable I guess. I just want to see what its like outside. When I leave the safety of my house I want to know what to expect.

 Today the sky is heavily overcast.  The sun is hidden somewhere behind the thick layer of clouds. They aren't the menacing kind of clouds I sometimes see in the spring and summer. They are just overcast clouds and nothing to worry about – just like many of the days I have seen before.  The birds are still flying, dogs are still barking and all-in-all its just a normal winter day.

There are those people, known as weather prognosticators, more commonly known as weather forecasters, who are sounding an alarm.  They are saying a winter storm is coming.  It may dump seven or more inches of snow.  At times they predict the snow will be falling at a rate of two inches per hour.  That’s a lot of snow.

 But, you know what?  I’ve heard this all before.  Weather forecasters and even a government agency have made fearful predictions before.  Most of the time they don’t come true.  It has gotten to the point where I take everything they have to say with a grain of salt.  A shrug of the shoulders and an “oh, right…” trailing off my tongue and I continue on my way.

 Dire predictions are being heard today.  Predictions of things getting much worse before they get better; of house values continuing to fall; of joblessness continuing to rise and of rebellion and discord in our country are being stated publicly.  And, like my response to a winter storm warning, many people hear the predictions and dismiss them as the ravings of right wing lunatics or fear mongering newscasters.  

 Through the years I have learned even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while.  The fact of faulty predictions does not nullify the accuracy of truthful ones.  The danger in easily dismissing a warning is this - one warning may be right.  If we refuse to heed words of warning and the storm hits we are at best foolish and at worst doomed to experience all the violence the storm produces.

 Most of us choose to ignore the warning or worse than that to shut the forecaster’s mouth.  We figure if no one says it, it won’t happen.  The authorities tried to do this in the Bible, you know.  The rationale was if we deal with the troublesome talker the problem is solved.  “When the priest Passhur son of Immer, the chief officer in the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate…” (Jeremiah 20:1-2a)  Deal with the man doing the warning.  Beat him.  Put him in jail.  Let him rot.  Skewed thinking, don’t you think?  We may be “more civilized” (whatever that means) in our treatment of voices of warning today – but we accomplish the same thing.  Shut them up, they are scaring the people.  Perhaps people need to become scared.  Perhaps we need to be shaken out of  the doldrums and given a good dose of reality.

 I heard a government official make this comment – “the government will have to take over the banks for a time until they can be stabilized.”  The truth is our government always begins with “for a time” but it never ends that way.  Once the government gets its hooks of regulation into any private enterprise “for a time” has vanished.  Government control never leaves.  There never has been and never will be anything free from the government.  Bailouts come tied with the governmental rope of regulation.  And in the government’s hands ropes are used for strangling.  Oh, by the way, I thought you'd like to know, it’s beginning to snow!

 

The Answer

I am doing a lot of thinking about the state of the United States.  I have a son-in-law who was spared being laid off a couple of weeks ago.  He knew something was afoot in the company he worked for.  The rumor was 30% of the global workforce would be terminated.  He didn't know if he was to be one of those or not.  He was fortunate.

It would be easy to think the worst is passed.  That's not so.  He has been told the company is bringing people to the States for training.  In fact, what is happening is the remaining stateside workers are expected to train the foreigners.  They will train them so the foreigners can take away their jobs.  

I am concerned for my children.  What does the future hold for them?  There is no way to tell.  I am not worried for myself.  I have been receiving Social Security for a year and my wife is now receiving it too.  We are set.  Our future is as firm as the government.  Wait a minute.  Now that I write that I'm not sure I like the sound of it.  I guess I have something to worry about too.

What about the politicians?  How secure are they?  They act as if nothing can hurt them.  Their future is as secure as the United States government.  Do they really understand this?  I have some questions for those who are elected to serve us.  Is your future really as secure as you pretend it to be?  Why didn't we hear anything about our senators and representatives losing thousands of dollars in the stock market?  Do they have investments there?  Why weren't they affected by the dramatic drop?  Did they receive information from inside sources?  Did they have information which protected them from significant loss?  Why aren't they nervous?  Aren't their jobs at risk?  Why don't they take cuts in pay and perks?  Is there something in the stimulus package which is a personal stimulus for them?  Out of the billions of dollars they want to give away are they giving some to themselves?  Their future is only as bright as the future of our country and right now the future is in doubt and the present is quite shaky.  

Then in answer to my questions and confusing ramblings I read this:

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.  There is a river who streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.   God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.  Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; He lifts His voice, the earth melts.  The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.  Selah.  Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations He has brought on the earth.  He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear, He burns the shields with fire.  Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.  The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.  Selah.  (Psalm 46 NIV)

The Fool

It occurred to me this morning, as I continued to grapple with the decline of prosperity and values in the United States, our country is being run by fools.  I use the  word fool not in the sense of the absence of any sign of intelligence but in the sense of any sign of good sense and/or judgement. Our beloved country is being subverted from within.  The very people we have elected to serve us have become drunk with the power of leadership.  As the old saying goes, if power corrupts then absolute power corrupts absolutely.  

I know you may take exception to what I am writing and that's okay.  One thing we still have, although I don't know for how long, is freedom to express our agreement or disagreement with others - commonly called freedom of speech.  Although this seems to be in jeopardy too.  

Only a fool would give billions of dollars away with no strings attached.  Who would have thought the men and women who are supposed to be serving us would give away our money with no rules of oversight to businesses which have proven themselves to be fiscally irresponsible.  The very businesses which would turn themselves down for a loan if they applied to their own bank are welcomed by politicians with arms full of free money.  I don't know what you call that but I call it foolish.

What is foolish for individuals is foolish for groups as well.  Do they think the wisdom of the Bible doesn't apply to them?  Are the laws of wise conduct suspended for politicians?  "A man lacking in judgment strikes hands in pledge and puts up security for his neighbor." (Proverbs 17:18)  The borrower is always servant to the lender.