I'm writing from my study/office - overlooking our street, through rain splattered window and screen. It's a grey day outside - one after three weeks of sun, blue skies, wonderful temperatures and less humidity than normal, though many of you would find it a sauna. :-) Today's rain reflects our present global situation in the "developed" global world we find ourselves.
We knew it would happen - the unprecedented growth all on a wave of euphoric technological and political shifting, but a swell built on unwise high risk - a house of cards we knew would come tumbling down. We denied it would, but it did and it has and we see the market a mere fraction of what it was a mere month ago. Was it just a month ago we saw the Dow over 14000?, The FTSE from 6700? This weekend, the Dow was at 8,500, a 40% loss. The FTSE was down to 4200. The greed, gluttony, dibachery and unethical raping of poorer people was sown and the reaping had come.
We then hear the insulting, absolutely unbelievable "retreat" for the biggest earners in AIG - AFTER the US Congress bailed them out to the tune of $135 MILLION! They actually spent $440,000 for a long weekend! Just gobsmackingly arrogant and obtuse! Do they actually think and believe there is not a hell!?
You'll not like what I am about to say... I have actually prayed for this for a couple of years. Upon my move from overseas, I experienced the normal, I've done this a few times, counter-culture shock and was dismayed at the gluttony in every form of life - expectancy, demanding, normative to be oppulently wealthy, with no regard, not enough to do anything and certainly not enough to actually impact how one lives - where you give till it hurts. It made and makes me so sad. Therefore, I began praying that God would break, smash the idols of the USA, and Europe, that the people might be freed from the grip of their idols. Severe? Yes, I understand that. BUT it is for a simple reason - I love people too much to not pray it. Is not eternity worth more than the breath that is our lives? What is it to live as kings of old and spend eternity in horrorifying terror?
Funny, as this happens, dropping like and worse than 1929... Some observations:
1. We love to say we trust God...until He actually asks us to - till we actually are forced to walk in faith.
2. We love to say we'll follow Him anywhere, and what an adventure in the saints of old. Well, okay, untnil He asks us to follow when a) we're not in control, b) we can't see and determine and control tomorrow, and c) He asks us to sacrifice, to give up and reorient our lives, how we live.
When He brings the above to reality, we freak out, doubt, grope for answers, blame, life lines. We pull in our wings and never consider flying until it ecame reality.
Sam Metcalf, CRM's leader, sends us regular comminiques. He recent one was interesting... His counsel is:
1. Economic turmoil is actually excellent opportunity to love People towards Jesus, because people's security, their nap in the world of consumerism is broken. They are more open to help, hope and purpose.
2. This is not the time to draw in the wagons - why? As people are more open, we should press our mandate to make God's name renown - because of 1 above.
3. It is a time to actually grow spiritually, learning to trust, walk in the dark, letting God be God. It gives you spiritual muscle and reorients why we live.
Some counsel to us from Sam:
1. Time to reorder our finances and lifestyles? Maybe we're too married, to captive to this culture and this is an oppornity to address our debt, our saving, our spending, how we entertain, what we aspire to and how and why we live as we do.
2. Time to prepare to get in the market - when it hits bottom, rising stock value will follow in the future.
I pray people will briefly ask not just about how much we waste and spend on nothing, but that we'll stay grateful, more frugile and wiser how we structure our finances.
The future: It will end like other fiscal challenge.s
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