I do not have a job. This puts me in good company with millions of other Americans. The last job I had was six days a week for the princely wage of $225 per week. I loved the work, was not thrilled about the pay. Now my unemployment check is about the same size as my last paycheck. Not thrilled about the check, or the lack of work. Again, I suspect there are no few others out there in similar circumstances.
For a variety of reasons I have had the opportunity to investigate some business opportunities, as well as simply look for a job. The funny thing about the business opportunities is that I can't help feeling that someone is trying to give me what we used to call, "the business." It seems the current economic climate is very friendly to things that rhyme with "spam" but have a 'c' in place of the 'p'. Every week I get several invitation to attend a meeting, or call an 800 number to find out how I can get rid of my timeshare. They promise they'll save me money by giving me the opportunity to make them money upfront. Well money is tight, so I think I'll hold onto the little I have for now.
No few of the businesses have the old familiar ring of the multi-level-marketing schemes that I have always loathed. Every time I hear about one of them they talk about putting me in a place where I'll be able to help other people, and make myself fabulously rich at the same time. Hmm, it has always seemed to me that the people MLM systems are designed to help are the ones in the system being helped by taking money from others lower in the system than they are.
And, while I wouldn't mind owning a new boat, a car less than 11 years old, and have the money to go on a cruise, I actually believe I can live happy and fulfilled without any of those things. Oh, there's some temptation there, but I am really on my guard not to push the "greed" button. And cut through all the talk about being in control of your own time and money, being your own boss, enjoying the "lifestyle you've always wanted" and it comes down to playing on our love of money. Now I forget a lot of things, but I do remember the Bible's caution that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Nothing wrong with money in itself, it is pretty useful. But making the making of money the focus of your life is a bad choice, and I don't care how happy the people in all the glossy pictures look on their yachts!
Actually, I believe one of the greatest, probably the greatest, certainly more important than financial security, reason to work is the sense of self-worth it gives you. Regardless of what you earn for your work, that fact that you earn anything says something about your worth. Not working, not having a job, can make you feel pretty worthless. Of course, given the state of the economy, there are a lot more unpaid and underpaid jobs out there than before. The bad thing about being a volunteer who is valued, or an underpaid worker who is valued, is that you might get to do something worthwhile and still lose your house, or not have health insurance.
And let's face it, financial security, if that's all you have, is no security. It doesn't matter how rich you are, you can lose it all, or have it stolen from you, and then where are you? In the end, the poorest refugee in Darfur can be infinitely far more secure than the world's richest man. Because, while money is important, the one thing we all need isn't a thing at all, but a person--Jesus Christ. Health, wealth, even life itself can be gone in an instant, without there being anything we can do about it. Doesn't sound like security to me. But with Jesus Christ, there can be the assurance that, whether you are down to your last dollar or have a couple of million of them in the bank, whether you are fit as a fiddle or sick as a dog, whether you have many long years ahead of you or your next breath turns out to be your last, He's got you safe in His arms now and forever.
Actually, admitting your lack of real security and great need of Him is the big step we all need to take. One of the worst things I can imagine happening to someone who buys into one of the scams currently preying upon the desperate unemployed is that they work out and someone does make a lot of money, and starts enjoying the lifestyles of the rich and famous, because they will very likely arrive at the opinion that they don't need Jesus at all.
You know, the Bible doesn't teach us that Jesus ever earned even so much as one shekel. And His apostles all walked away from their former lives, some of them relatively poor some of them quite comfortable, to embrace a life full of sacrifice and worldly risks. But, with the exception of Judas Iscariot, they all received eternal security.
Well, I just pray I'll be able to stifle the impulse to grab for some high-sounding "life-changing opportunities" that are out there, and hang in with the Lord come what may. I've got to tell you, the Revelation 22.14 lifestyle can't be beat!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Well, they've been hinting at it for some time now. You know, "experts" in business and government have been telling us they've been seeing signs that the recession was coming to an end. Now I read that Benjamin Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, has declared the recession is "very likely over." What a relief! Of course, I do wonder what indicators Bernanke was using to make his pronouncement that "happy days are here again," so to speak?
Last time I checked, which was just a few minutes ago actually, the U.S. unemployment figures for August 2009 showed nearly a 1/4 of a million Americans lost their jobs, and that nearly 1 out of every 10 American workers is, well, out of work. I hope Mr. Bernanke drops a note to those 216,000 families telling them to cheer up--the recession's over!
Actually, Bernanke better get real busy writing notes to encourage a lot more Americans about his declaration of the end of the recession. By the end of 2009 it is expected 3.4 million households will be in the process of losing their homes due to foreclosures. In August of 2009 alone the rate of foreclosures had jumped 18% compared to the same month last year. Yes sir, this end of the recession is really swell.
I'll tell you what would really worry me--if Bernanke went to work for the CDC and declared an end to the Swine Flu threat. That would be scary!
I suppose what Mr. Bernanke meant when he said the recession was at an end was that the Chinese firms high rolling American tycoons have invested in are doing well (see my blog from 9/15). That makes sense, because U.S. retailers, who mostly sell goods from China these days, reported an upturn in sales in August.
Not that I know very much, but I think a sign that the recession is over would look something like what Jesus described in Matthew 20.1-16. There a landowner (Think "wealthy businessman") could not hire enough people to get all the work done, and went out into the streets and had what amounted to a job fair four times in one day. THAT's an end to recession!
Unfortunately, there appear to be very few job fairs out there for the 10% of Americans out of work. I wonder if Mr. Bernanke, or anyone else in Washington, might do something about that?
Last time I checked, which was just a few minutes ago actually, the U.S. unemployment figures for August 2009 showed nearly a 1/4 of a million Americans lost their jobs, and that nearly 1 out of every 10 American workers is, well, out of work. I hope Mr. Bernanke drops a note to those 216,000 families telling them to cheer up--the recession's over!
Actually, Bernanke better get real busy writing notes to encourage a lot more Americans about his declaration of the end of the recession. By the end of 2009 it is expected 3.4 million households will be in the process of losing their homes due to foreclosures. In August of 2009 alone the rate of foreclosures had jumped 18% compared to the same month last year. Yes sir, this end of the recession is really swell.
I'll tell you what would really worry me--if Bernanke went to work for the CDC and declared an end to the Swine Flu threat. That would be scary!
I suppose what Mr. Bernanke meant when he said the recession was at an end was that the Chinese firms high rolling American tycoons have invested in are doing well (see my blog from 9/15). That makes sense, because U.S. retailers, who mostly sell goods from China these days, reported an upturn in sales in August.
Not that I know very much, but I think a sign that the recession is over would look something like what Jesus described in Matthew 20.1-16. There a landowner (Think "wealthy businessman") could not hire enough people to get all the work done, and went out into the streets and had what amounted to a job fair four times in one day. THAT's an end to recession!
Unfortunately, there appear to be very few job fairs out there for the 10% of Americans out of work. I wonder if Mr. Bernanke, or anyone else in Washington, might do something about that?
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Let's Reform Ourselves First
I won't insult your intelligence by pretending to have sufficient insight into the nation's health care delivery system to offer my suggestions on fixing it. Actually, even more important than reforming health care delivery is the need for Americans to do something about health care demand. The best way to deal with illness and injury is to do all you can to avoid them in the first place! This means that the real critical need is to reform Americans first, then worry about reforming our health care systems.
Reports of Americans' increasing life-span belie the fact of America's growing lack of fitness. Super-sized portions of fast-food combined with sedentary life-styles adds up to a lot of needless illness that costs everyone too much to treat. Any medical person will tell you that primary prevention is by far the "best medicine." But every day millions of Americans do, not to put too fine a point on it, dumb things that invite all manner of acute and chronic illnesses and injuries.
Here's one example that we all see pretty much every day: the driver in the vehicle in the lane next to us with a cigarette in one hand, a cell phone in the other, and the steering wheel in...well it's being juggled. An accident waiting to happen, chronic, and likely terminal illness, being sown in the lungs and heart! Like I said, dumb.
Then there's the parade of young school-children coming in to my wife's school nurse office on a daily schedule with their asthma and diabetes. Hmm, the fact that as infants and toddlers these kids were a few feet, often a few inches, from a constant stream of tobacco smoke couldn't have something to do with their asthma, could it? The poor diet, obesity, and all but total lack of exercise doesn't contribute to the diabetes, does it? Multiply what my wife sees each week by all the school nurse offices across the county and, well, as I said, the problem we need to fix is health care demand more than health care delivery. It's our brokenness that should be more of a concern to the nation than the health care industry.
I don't mean to pick on my wife, and I don't need to. Working at a Scout camp this summer I saw plenty of boys, 1/5 my age, who I could run circles around. And I'm not the most active guy on the block. But when I take a simple 5-mile hike and leave a bunch of 11-12 year-olds in the dust, something's wrong, and reforming health care delivery won't fix it. And it's not just the boys in Scouting who are out of shape. Scout leaders like to say, "Scouting rounds a boy out." Well, judging by the belt-lines of no few leaders, we're a little too round! And it was, to put it plainly, revolting, to visit the leaders' arbor and choke on all the cigarette smoke there. So, much a Scout's promise to keep himself "physically strong." If they keep on smoking they'll make themselves a physical wreck, and it doesn't do me any good to be around their "exhaust."
All this is not to say that health care delivery couldn't and shouldn't be improved. But I, for one, would much prefer all the concern to be directed where it could do the most immediate good. If we all improved our health, health care would be a lot less on our minds. From the perspective of faith, well, believing what St. Paul said about our bodies being God's temple (1Corinthians 3.16-17; 6.19-20), tells me that all the abuse and neglect of Americans' bodies is an affront to God. Not that Congress would concern itself with honoring God as an incentive to encourage Americans to reform our lives, rather than waiting for our leaders to reform a system that isn't the real problem.
Enough of this, I going for a jog.
Reports of Americans' increasing life-span belie the fact of America's growing lack of fitness. Super-sized portions of fast-food combined with sedentary life-styles adds up to a lot of needless illness that costs everyone too much to treat. Any medical person will tell you that primary prevention is by far the "best medicine." But every day millions of Americans do, not to put too fine a point on it, dumb things that invite all manner of acute and chronic illnesses and injuries.
Here's one example that we all see pretty much every day: the driver in the vehicle in the lane next to us with a cigarette in one hand, a cell phone in the other, and the steering wheel in...well it's being juggled. An accident waiting to happen, chronic, and likely terminal illness, being sown in the lungs and heart! Like I said, dumb.
Then there's the parade of young school-children coming in to my wife's school nurse office on a daily schedule with their asthma and diabetes. Hmm, the fact that as infants and toddlers these kids were a few feet, often a few inches, from a constant stream of tobacco smoke couldn't have something to do with their asthma, could it? The poor diet, obesity, and all but total lack of exercise doesn't contribute to the diabetes, does it? Multiply what my wife sees each week by all the school nurse offices across the county and, well, as I said, the problem we need to fix is health care demand more than health care delivery. It's our brokenness that should be more of a concern to the nation than the health care industry.
I don't mean to pick on my wife, and I don't need to. Working at a Scout camp this summer I saw plenty of boys, 1/5 my age, who I could run circles around. And I'm not the most active guy on the block. But when I take a simple 5-mile hike and leave a bunch of 11-12 year-olds in the dust, something's wrong, and reforming health care delivery won't fix it. And it's not just the boys in Scouting who are out of shape. Scout leaders like to say, "Scouting rounds a boy out." Well, judging by the belt-lines of no few leaders, we're a little too round! And it was, to put it plainly, revolting, to visit the leaders' arbor and choke on all the cigarette smoke there. So, much a Scout's promise to keep himself "physically strong." If they keep on smoking they'll make themselves a physical wreck, and it doesn't do me any good to be around their "exhaust."
All this is not to say that health care delivery couldn't and shouldn't be improved. But I, for one, would much prefer all the concern to be directed where it could do the most immediate good. If we all improved our health, health care would be a lot less on our minds. From the perspective of faith, well, believing what St. Paul said about our bodies being God's temple (1Corinthians 3.16-17; 6.19-20), tells me that all the abuse and neglect of Americans' bodies is an affront to God. Not that Congress would concern itself with honoring God as an incentive to encourage Americans to reform our lives, rather than waiting for our leaders to reform a system that isn't the real problem.
Enough of this, I going for a jog.
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