On the economic crisis. . .

(Thoughts from economics class and the news . . . and yes I'm sick and tired both of them! Every time I escape from one I get bombarded with the same thing by the other. Don't ask me why I'm doing a post on them:)

Concerning "Experts": They don't exist.

This economic crisis is taking us into uncharted waters. No one really knows what the effects will be because no one has ever dealt with these amounts of money. We are only extrapolating from what we know from our own small business system and hoping it works the same way at the mega level.

The more I learn about the economic system, the more fragile and dangerous it seems. Is it me or is the entire system riding on the nerves of millions of people, people who collectively make up driving force that can only be described as unpredictable? I'm glad my whole future isn't tied up with it the way some people's is, although I have a feeling I'll experience the effects for a long time to come the same as anyone else.

"In whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content"

Last night my pastor gave a message on discontentment. The message was very good, but what really caught my attention was a short prayer at the bottom of the handout. I don't have it with me right now, but it went something like this:

Lord, give me the grace to:
Take what you give
Accept what you withold
and relinquish what you take.

It caught my attention because it presented two very simple concepts. First, the person who prayed it clearly understood that he didn't know what was best for him. That is not an easy truth to swallow. I usually think I know what is good for me but this is really a ridiculous idea. I have never met anyone who didn't want something that was not good for them. Not that it was necessarily bad, just not good for them. This is especially evident with kids, but it is no less real with adults, it's just more subtle.

The second thing I saw was that the person who prayed this clearly understood that God did know what was best for Him and that He would not withold it. Psalm 84:11 “For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”

These two concepts drove home very clearly to me what it really means to be content. Contentment does not come from having everything you want; it comes when you realize that you have everything that is good for you. It reminded me of a song we sang at camp this summer. Sometimes when I think I need something more than what I have, God brings this song to mind to remind me “There's only one thing you really need to be happy in this life, and I've already given it to you. It will never be taken away so be content with that and trust me for the rest.” I don't remember who wrote it, but it was from the Wilds.

My Father's Love
This world's wealth and riches can be bought and sold
But I posses a treasure far greater than gold,
'Twas a gift passed down to me from heaven above,
'Twas the gift of my Father's love.

And my Father's love is strong and true
Always believing, always seeing me through
So no matter what happens in His grand design,
I'll be fine with my Father's love.

Safe and secure now in his alone
I find at last my place of worth as one of his own,
And I don't need anything this world has to give,
'Cause I live with my Father's love.

And my Father's love is strong and true
Always believing, always seeing me through
So no matter what happens in His grand design,
I'll be fine, I have my Father's love.

A Fool?

Who wants to be thought of as a fool? Who wants to be a fool? If you had to choose between the two, which would you rather be?
At first this seems like a hypothetical situation, but for Christians it is very real to life. To put it simply, if you are going to take God at His word, people will think you are a fool. On the other hand, if you decide if you decide to trust your own wisdom, people will think you are wise, but according to God you are a fool. Which would you rather be?
So is it really a bad thing to be thought a fool? Obviously it depends why they think you are a fool. After all, there are a good number of things Christians can do that are genuinely foolish. Being a follower of Christ doesn't mean we are exempt from stupidity. But, back to my question. Is it really a shame to be thought of as a fool? Inversely, is it always a compliment to the thought of as wise? Instinctively I say yes, but I'm pretty sure my instincts are wrong on this one. It probably also has something to do with who thinks you are wise or foolish. Frankly, some people I don't want to think I am wise because their concept of wisdom is an insult.
I heard a quote from a radio pastor one time and I thought it was good. (Surprisingly some of them have some pretty good quotes!). He said “when you are living in the Spirit, the flesh will seem foolish and you will wonder how you could ever be so stupid. When you are living in the flesh, the Spirit will seem foolish and you will wonder what in the world you were doing.”
If you plan to live like a Christian, you might as well accept the fact that you will look and feel foolish at times. However, from the few times I've felt foolish (yeah right! Believe that one and I'll tell you another one!) it really isn't that bad, especially when you know that you are siding with an almighty God. There's a certain thrill and satisfaction that comes from taking God at His word, knowing that He's been around long enough to know the difference between wisdom and foolishness. It makes me wish I did it more often.

Spring! . . . (I wish!)

(I know I'm fickle for posting about spring right after a post about winter, but that was a cold night and this is a warm afternoon and frankly I feel like spring today. Can I help it if my moods changer faster than the seasons?)

Took a walk today and nearly decided to abandon school. It was definitely a mistake. The warm weather was intoxicating and I almost didn't make it back to my schoolwork that I really need to get done. There is something about the feel of warm air and the smell of wet earth that makes books and words seem so much more cold, dry, and boring. I am inclined to agree with Solomon when he warned his son that "of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh (Eccl. 12:12)". That said, there's still one or two books waiting for me. (Sigh). If I'm lucky I'll be done and get to go outside before it gets dark and cold again.

Snow

I love snow. Love the way it crunches under your feet when walk on it. Love the way it reflects all the light around it at night. Love the way it lets you slide on almost everything. Love throwing it on other people!=). I went for a walk tonight with Josh and Lindsey and even though there wasn't nearly enough snow or big enough drifts to make it a real adventure, it felt good just to go stomping through it. I forget how much fun it is to sled down even a small hill in a saucer and to let your sister fall into her snow angel as you are “helping” her up (I got a good snowball and chase for that!). Josh wasn't so much for chases, but he did go rolling down a hill and got snow up his shirt. It reminded me of when we used to go sledding when we were little. There used to be family at our old church who lived on a farm with a perfect hill for sledding. It was a good long hill with two small fence lines halfway down that usually threw you into the air and didn't always let you land on the sled. I remember being very sore for several days after those rides! It was usually dark by time we were done and sometimes we had hot chocolate and a bonfire to roast hot dogs. Don't ask me why we don't still do that sort of thing. It's not like I don't have the time, it just doesn't happen. I wished tonight I could go back a couple years and do it all over again. Ever notice how everything seems better and bigger when it's in the past? Maybe some things are just better as memories than traditions. In my memories I can forget the cold hands, snow in the face, bruises, and cold terror when you realize you're out of control and there's nothing to slow you down except a fence at the other end. Still, if I could do it again, I would . . . in a heartbeat.

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(From economics class).
Durable products: Anything with an expected life span of three or more years.
This definition came up right after the professor gave a little rant on fads and people who have to buy the newest thing every few weeks. I was sitting there and the thought popped into my head “I've known granola bars with longer life-spans than some people's cell phones. So, does that make granola a durable product or cell phones a non-durable?” I guess it's all a matter of how you want to define them.

Three Things I wasn't expecting at Winter Retreat

1. A camper to throw up in the kitchen.
It wasn't even as if we had any warning because by the time he told his counselor he felt sick it was too late. I have never seen a kitchen vacate so quickly. I wasn't in there at the time, actually I was waiting to get in there, but I'm told it was rather spectacular. The kitchen, besides being a very small area to prepare food for forty campers, also doubled as the bank and general transaction center for a giant game of monopoly. It was quite the busy place during that game and usually crowded inside with a long line to get in there on the outside. Anyway, my guys and I were standing in line when suddenly we heard the girl's cabin ahead of us give a muffled shriek and run from the kitchen with their hands over their mouths as if it contained the plague. Poor Mrs. Fry was right behind them for, although she possesses the amazing ability to prepare three gourmet meals a day for forty plus people, she can not handle the sight of those same meals on their encore appearance and she was desperately trying to get out of the kitchen before she added her name to the sick list and made in an official two. Needless to say the game of monopoly went to a halftime break and all the campers crowded into the living room where the speaker for the week took upon himself the very difficult task of keeping them occupied and amused until we could clean up the mess. As it turned out our job wasn't much easier than his. We cleaned up the mess quickly with warm soapy water, but the smell was harder to eliminate. After searching in vain for a air freshener or something that smelled nice and clean like chlorox or strong detergent, one of counselors volunteered a girly perfume spray. Mr. Fry, the camp director, decided this was the best course of action and set to work happily spraying it around the kitchen until he thought it was sufficiently drenched for his wife. It solved the problem, but the kitchen had a very un-kitchen like smell for the next day or so. We all held our breath and prayed that the incident wasn't contagious. We could only imagine what it would be like if the whole lodge came down with it. Thankfully that was the end of it and we returned to our game (which we ended up losing anyway, but it was still fun.)

2. To get smacked in the nose with a Frisbee.
Technically I wasn't supposed to be playing frisbee because of my shoulder, but since I was in charge of it and ended up running up and down the field anyway, I decided I might as well join in and play. I figured I'd be safe as long as I played a conservative role and stayed away from the main action. Yeah Right! I hadn't been playing more than five minutes when the guy I was guarding tried to throw one over my head and between my arms. Unfortunately his aim was a little low and I ended up catching the frisbee right across the nose and under my right eye. Fortunately it didn't catch anything important – not that my nose wasn't important, but it's not the sort of thing you can do permanent damage to very easily – and after I managed to get my nose to stop bleeding and my eyes to stop watering, I was good to go again. I figured it would swell up and I'd look like Rudolph for the next to days, but surprisingly it wasn't bad. Besides feeling like I was trying to breathe through a nasty head cold that night, I barely noticed it.

3. To see a girl break a table.
To be fair to her, the screws holding it together were very short, but when she sat down on it, it cracked as if she'd hit it with a sledge hammer. I was couple of people away when I heard something crash and looked over to see a girl getting up from a split table with a rather shocked expression on her face. We managed to fix the table, but I imagine it's only a matter of time until someone else does the same thing. It's a sturdy looking table, but if you trust it too far it will let you down without a second thought.