Uncertain Times

I'm not sure if you'd heard or not, but our country is in the midst of an economic recession. I don't pretend to understand it, but I've read enough about it to have formed my own opinion about it. It seems that most of it started with the real estate bubble which burst, resulting in incredible rates of foreclosure, which then resulted in the failure of several major banks, and was compounded by $5/gallon gasoline for a time. The end result of all this is that people are scared to spend their money on major purchases. Unfortunately, when we don't spend money on cars or on house, the people who assemble our cars and their components, and the people who build and/or sell and/or finance our houses find themselves out of work and as a nation we see our unemployment rate start to rise. It's a vicious cycle that just feeds on itself.

Right now things at my plant are slow. We had only a few lines running last week due to customer orders being down...which is caused by dealers having 6 months worth on cars on the lots right now. We hear rumors of our sister plants taking pay cuts...taking cuts in hours worked...taking extreme measures to cut costs in order to make it through this tough time as healthy as possible. My company is proud to "never had a layoff" and I don't think we'll see one now. But either way, lean times have fallen on my employer and I think less opulent times are ahead for it's employees...including me.

Fortunately, I don't have to worry too much about this. Of course, I do worry more than I should....but I don't have to. My hope is not in an industry...it's not in a company...and thankfully it's not in myself. I am very thankful to be able to go into work today and every day that they let me from this point on, but, of men, I am most miserable if my hope lies in this world only.

Take a moment to read Psalm 42 today. It's only 11 verses, but we see a man who is in prison or some other lonely place...being kept company only by those who mock him. But in the end, his own soul cries out to him...calling him back from his own wilderness...to remember his hope lies in his God.

May my hope be only in Christ and the glory of the cross.

2009...Ready or not

I "celebrated" my 40th birthday a couple of weeks ago and it went by without really accomplishing any of those things I said I'd like to do before I turned 40. My dream...or rather my delusion...of running a marathon before I was 40 is now gone with the wind. And it was gone almost as fast as my determination to accomplish this lofty "goal".

I also didn't jump from an airplane before I turned 40 as I wanted to. With this one it wasn't a lack of drive...nor a result of fear or cold feet. I realized one day that for me to risk life and limb...actually it's really life in this case...the limbs would be obliterated at the same instant that your life left you if you hit the terra firma @ 120mph...anyway...for me to risk my life in order to try to hang onto some of my youth, or manhood, or whatever it is that made me want to do this would be utterly selfish while there were still still two young men in my house who needed my presence, my protection, and my guidance....not to mention my paycheck.

Anyway, as I approached 2009, I found myself looking toward new goals. New things to accomplish over the next year. (Pretty original idea, huh? Don't you wish you'd thought of it?) I think I'm going to call them New Year's Revolutions...it sounds like resolutions (get it?) and you always hear some "cute" story from parents who thought it was adorable that their little kid couldn't say "resolutions". (Just try to look amused when you do hear it.) But for me to do these things, there will have to be a personal revolution.

I will have to turn away....rebel...revolt against the very fiber of my being. These fibers are stubborn and set in their ways. I have been able to move them and mold them for a time in the past, but they, like elastic, always plop right back into their comfortable, even natural, state. But, like elastic, we may be comfortable and even natural, but unless we are being stretched, we are not fulfilling our potential...or even our purpose.

As I contemplate this revolution I see that, like all revolutions, it will be subject to inertia. The revolution takes a lot of force and energy to get started. And it can keep rolling for a time as long as there is no real friction. Unfortunately, my nature...and by nature I mean my bent for apathy, laziness and the like...provides more than enough friction to slam me to a stop.

Anyway, there are some things that I've decided that I want to do over the next year. None are especially spiritual really, but I think that's OK.

1. Take 5 good hikes in the Smokies with my family. (Charlie's Bunion, Spence Field, Abrams Falls (from Abrams Creek campground), Gregory's Bald, and I'll figure out the other one later.

2. Get back down to 215 lbs. I'm quite a distance now.

3. Run a 5K road race with Chuck Kern. (Maybe Chuck will leave me alone (haha) and I'll also make some progress on #2. )

4. Teach my boys one thing each month that they didn't know before.

5. This ones a secret. No one can or will know until there is significant progress being made.

6. Write in here at least once a week.

7. Love my wife better this year than ever.

Thanks for reading. I'll let you know how they come along.