This week's email to Redeemer Community Church...
(kind of what I meant to say a few weeks ago when I wrote that we should embrace economic crisis as an opportunity to trust God)

Hello Friends,



A lot of things are about to change.



Our clocks will have changed by this time next week. This Saturday, after we’ve enjoyed a day at the Pascoes’ house (more on that, below), we’ll want to remember to come home and adjust our clocks. Fall backwards. You get an extra hour of sleep this Saturday night (it’s my favorite night of the year!). Mornings are about to get brighter. Evenings are about to get dark sooner.



The stock market will have changed by this time next week. In fact, it will change daily. Wildly. Exasperatingly.



In addition, by this time next week there will likely be friends, family members or colleagues who no longer have a job or a steady income. It could happen to any of us.



The leadership of our nation will have changed by this time next week. Technically, the change won’t take place until January, but the course will be set and the long decision making process will be over. I trust that by this time next week, you will have voted.



The change in our clocks is no big deal. Happens every year, and life goes on just fine. Sure, you may find yourself suffering from a touch of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). But you’ll cope.



The other changes are more significant and more uncertain. The changing economy, the changing job market and the changes in governmental leadership can have very real, far reaching and long term effects. Relatively speaking.



I say relatively speaking because of those things that won’t change between now and this time next week. Or between now and this time next year. Or a hundred years from now. Or a thousand.



God will still be on His throne, ruling and reigning over all the affairs of men.



He will still be inviting you to cast your cares on Him, because He cares for you and for your needs



He will still be the One who holds the heart of the King in the palm of His hand.



He will still be the One who clothes the grass and feeds the birds. And if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you?



He will still be the One who is causing all things to work together for good for those who love Him.



The grass will have withered, flowers will have faded, but His word will have remained unchanged.



And He Himself will not have changed. He is the same, yesterday, today and forever.



As you face whatever changes may come in the next week, face them prayerfully and alertly. But face them with faith, not with fear. Are we about to face tougher times? Perhaps we will. But as we turn the pages of scripture, we find a great cloud of witnesses who faced times tougher than we will likely ever face. Joseph was sold by his own brothers as a slave, and who wound up in prison in Egypt. David was hunted for years by a King who wanted him dead. Job lost his family and all he had in a day. Paul was beaten, left for dead, thrown overboard and taken away in chains to prison.



Kind of puts a big drop in the value of your 401K in perspective, doesn’t it? I have some money in the stock market, but my hope and my security aren’t there.



If we are headed into difficult times as a nation in the days ahead, let’s not forget that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear.” (Psalm 46:1-2a).