One of my many “soapboxes”

This is my third year at this job. Wow, I think I need to let the reality of that statement sink in. I don’t think I’ve ever worked anywhere for 3 years. I can’t even imagine working somewhere for 20 or 30 or 45 years! I don’t know how our parents and grandparents survived. Obviously that never happens anymore. In today’s economy, people are the first thing to go when a company experiences financial difficulties. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, many of the jobs today are getting shipped overseas. People really need to start digging their wells before they are thirsty. Unfortunately, I think many folks are taking the ostrich approach to their future financial security. You know, I’ll just bury my head in the sand as the danger is running right at me. Maybe if I don’t see it or attempt to deal with it, it will just go away. It’s so ironic to me that people spend weeks upon weeks deciding which new car to buy or what color they should paint the kitchen, but most people today really try to ignore the status of their financial future.

Many of the Christians I know would choose to play the “God Card” right now and say that it is a sin to be “worried about the future” I mean afterall, “today has enough worries of it’s own.” Plus, think of all the scriptures that refer to money….such as “it’s more likely for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven” or so many other popularly quoted verses. My problem with these is that people so often tend to disregard the other thousands of verses that comprise the Bible. The thousands of chapters and verses that God designated to be his written word to us give a complete picture of what He is all about. So many times we (and by we I include myself) pick and choose scriptures to be our ammunition against a new fangled idea that shakes the foundations of what we have come to believe is true. Instead we should be searching all of scripture to find out what really is said about such startling thoughts and ideas. My point of all this being…what about the passage in scripture that talks about the several individuals all receiving talents from their master in various quantities. It was they who took what they were given and made the most of it who were blessed by the master. The poor soul that hid his talent so that he might protect it (or even abstain from anything “risky” with it) was reprimanded. Perhaps God has blessed us so richly with amazing minds that conceive incredible ideas, and with hearts that truly want to bless and help our fellow man and we are to take these phenomenal assets and boldly seek out ways to maximize their potential. Perhaps this action, this step of faith in our wondrous Creator, would bring him much joy and pleasure. However, what if this idea was unpopular with those around us. What if we were met with opposition when we stepped outside of our comfort zones, what if the enemy wanted to derail us by allowing some of the people we love and respect to question our motives. Would we stand fast for what we believe to be God’s intention for us? Would we temper the criticism with time spent in prayer and reading the word? Or would we simply sacrifice our God-given dream and settle for a life of mediocrity. I hope and pray that those on the journey continue to fight the battle, follow their Lord and stay strong.