As Rod and I were hurtling into downtown Portland for our weekly business professionals' meeting I was thinking about how the world we live in has changed so much just in the last few months. Oil products are at highs I wouldn't have believed just 2 years ago along with groceries. It seemed a little overwhelming to me at that time of day, esp. on top of the angst we feel sharing business space with the new "lingerie modeling" business that moved in next door to our insurance office a few months ago.
I realized that I get overwhelmed when I feel my environment is beyond my control. Control is the real issue and yet when you think about it, we are only asked to change those things that we have been given power over. God has asked generations of people to live in immoral or economically bankrupt cultures, the fact that we have not faced many of these challenges in America is proof that we have been living in an exceptionally protected life.
This is a critical perspective if we are to continue living in the joy and peace that God offers us because we know that He is able to provide for us and change the world through us in His time. My job is to let Him do that.
Somedays when I leave my office and look back at the "girly" business right next door I pray, "God you do the hard stuff (change hearts and lives) and I will do the easy stuff (love people, pray for them), and be proactive to change any law I have influence over.
Certainly voting is the least of that control...I have no patience for Christians who feel getting informed and voting is someone else's job. (If your parents gave you that value you need to examine it because it is slothful and I don't think God is pleased with it. What a slap in the face for those who fought and died in 2 world wars to secure those freedoms!
I was thinking as cars whizzed along that sometimes unexpected good comes from these things like less SUVs and double cab trucks causing fatalities to those of us in smaller, lower, cars...and less gas consumption and alternative fuel could mean cleaner air, esp in places like LA someday.
So I turned to Rod and said, "You know, God is the one who has put us HERE at THIS time in history, all He asks us to do is just live one day at a time in His grace and strength....some how I believe He is and will always be ENOUGH for us to live with joy and peace in this uncertain world.
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I was just telling my carpool buddy this morning that I wish they would raise gas taxes.
That would spur innovation and efficiency, and the resulting diversification of fuel sources would insulate us from fluctuations in oil prices.
That's the main problem with democracies, though. Democratically elected leaders cannot make decisions that trade short-term pain for the long-term good. Instead, they continually stack up long-term pain for the short-term good, which gives us a national debt of $30000 per US citizen (http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/)
Sometimes I wish I lived in a benevolent dictatorship, or that we could at least import some of the good ideas from European democracies.
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