Faith … In The World Economy

NOTE: This article was originally published in A Few Days With Figgins.

As you might expect, over the past couple of weeks, Figgins and I have had several discussions about our nation’s financial crisis, that quickly spread to world markets. Since Figgins is a true Millennial, his experience with this sort of thing is next-to-none. Though I’m older, by an order of magnitude, I’m still just a Baby Boomer. I don’t have the experience of the Great Depression and my business expertise hasn’t been in Finance so I haven’t had solutions to offer, with confidence. However, I have been able to pass along some observations of differing reactions to these circumstances and I think that’s been meaningful to him.

One related occasion involved meeting with the VP of Sales of a $Billion+ firm. This is a man who is at retirement age but he’s considering postponing his retirement due to the current economy. I suspect that his compensation plan is pretty healthy and he mentioned that he’s in the process of having a vacation home built abroad so it didn’t seem that he was in imminent danger of going broke. When he told me of a night he had spent “from 8:00 in the evening until 4:00 in the morning, calling Stock Brokers, with all (his) financial papers spread out around (him)”, it was obvious that he is scared, nearly senseless, of the economy’s uncertainties. In sympathy, I shared with him that these are the sort of times when I’m especially appreciative of the peace I have, as a man of faith. I told him that my slogan is, “I don’t know what tomorrow holds but I know Who holds tomorrow.” And, I went on to say that I like to look at the sun when it comes up in the morning and realize that I had absolutely nothing to do with that happening. My point is that I don’t have any more control over the world economy than I do of the sun coming up in the morning so why should I worry about one more than the other. Sadly, he wasn’t open to what I had to say and his anxiety seemed to remain, as we parted.

On another occasion, we heard from a couple who are friends from our church “back home”. Their first message asked us to join them in praying about a situation that involved a relative who is out of work, who lost his home and who, along with his Wife and dog, is being evicted from his apartment because he’s now out of money even for rent. Now, our friends were being asked to take in the relative, the Wife and the dog. Of course there are many things to consider in a situation like this and we don’t know all the particulars but we do know that our friends both have full-time jobs, they’ve been struggling for the past few years to try to buy a home of their own and one of them has asthma and allergies so having a dog around is not ideal. Today, we heard from our friends, thanking us for our prayers and letting us know of their decision to have the relative move in, along with his Wife and dog. They have committed to covering all the costs, “including dog food”, without any payback to be done so that the relative can “save his money & get a job”.

Finally, I told Figgins that it was these sort of experiences that led me to Luke 9:57 – 10:2 for our time in the Word, at this past Saturday’s Calvary Chapel – Vancouver – Married Couples Fellowship Event. That concludes with, “Then He said” … “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” My added encouragement was that this is a GREAT TIME! Its a time when you can truly bless others by sharing your faith. I don’t know that the words I spoke in sympathy with the VP of Sales will have any impact. I pray that they will. Likewise, I pray that the Lord will use the up-close view our friends’ relatives (and others) are getting of what faith can do. And, for you, my Christian Brothers and Sisters who are reading this, I pray that, in this time of uncertainty in the world, you’ll be especially watchful for opportunities to witness through the way you live. When those around you are shaking like a leaf and they turn to look at you, to see someone who is at peace, they’re certain to wonder, “What do they have that I don’t?” and that will lead to eternal blessing!