In Times of Trouble

Who hasn’t experienced trouble? Who hasn’t been at the end of their tether? “Man is born to trouble” but this truth runs contrary to our fond fantasy that life is an easy pathway to a series of peak experiences on the stairway to heaven.

When trouble did come my way, it broke over me in waves. I should have known better, but I assured myself that I could successfully navigate to a safe harbor. Yet the storm only intensified, and I was pounded by the waves and blown and tossed by the wind. Like Jonah, “The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me…and to the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth barred me in forever.”

In my own day of trouble, all the usual answers proved to be empty and dangerous. And so when all options were exhausted and all doors had closed, I finally abandoned self reliance and prayed to God for deliverance from this impossible danger and distress. My situation was desperate, truly unsustainable, but miraculously I was lifted out of that storm and placed on a safe and secure rock.

Twelve years later, I was reminded of that storm and the miracle that saved me. During a Christmas Eve service at a local church, a group of children handed out little candy canes with a handwritten verse from one of the psalms tied to it. I almost rejected the small gift, but at the last moment, I accepted it. The note was this: “‘Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.’” My eyes were suddenly opened, for I realized then and there why I had experienced that miracle so many years before. I also realized that I was being called to honor God with the life that had been saved. And at that moment, I experienced a new freedom that I had never known before.

Walking in Faith

Change is an iron law of the natural world, but it is a law that applies to the spiritual realm as well. God calls us to change; He asks us to depart from the rutted path we often tread and depart for places that may be new and unfamiliar. He calls us into service as He called Moses in the desert or David from the sheep pens or Paul from his zeal to persecute the new followers of the one who had died on a cross.

Though we often resist the call to leave the comforts of a safe life, God keeps nudging us to get up and go; He calls us to trust and have faith, even though we might interpret the call as nothing more than a risky venture. But before anything can happen, we must respond with an affirmation that allows us to transcend our inertia by turning our fears and trepidations over to the one who is calling us: “Here I am, I have come...I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”(Psalm 40:7) When we acknowledge God in this way with our very lives, His way no longer seems objectionable or intrusive.

God is always challenging our comfort zone; this spiritual pattern manifests itself on almost every page of the Bible; the truth is that walking in faith generates a higher level of comfort which many describe as a state of joy that overcomes our natural fears in all circumstances: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”(Psalm23:4)

WHERE I WILL BE ON SEPTEMBER 12

Most Saturdays, I choose to unwind at home, but not this week. On Friday I will be driving down to Washington DC to participate in the 912 march up Pennsylvania Avenue to the United States Capitol. I have no idea what I will accomplish by being a part of this rag tag crowd, but I have come to the conclusion that it is time to stand up and be counted. So what is behind this journey to the nation’s capitol? I have several reasons and I will list them in no particular order.

1. I have been inspired and encouraged by the ordinary Americans who believed it was important enough to show up at town hall meetings and be heard. If our congressmen and women lived in a bubble before August, they certainly have experienced a sharp injection of reality since then. So, my participation this week is in honor of all those who have already stood up against the powerful forces that control the politics of Washington.

2. I believe both political parties have been on a reckless financial joyride which will, in the end, destroy America. I can choose to do nothing, or I can raise my single voice in protest against the outrage that is present day Washington.

3. I am a businessman. I own three companies, all small by Washington’s standards because I cannot send lobbyists to walk the halls of congress to plea for my interests. I am one of tens of thousands who employee people, who provide services to other companies and who through diligence and hard work, have created opportunity for many people.

4. I have believed for some time that our political culture has devolved into something approximating a crime syndicate with only members of the immediate family benefiting from the corruption.

5. I believe that this disaster can be stopped, but we are pretty near the invisible line of no return.

6. If this event were organized by either of the major political parties, I would not go. Both have discredited themselves by their endless profligacy, and they will have to earn back our trust which will take years if not decades.

7. Twenty years ago, my company went through a chapter 11 bankruptcy. Before the bankruptcy occurred I behaved no differently than our political leaders in Washington are behaving today. They are bankrupting this great country, but believe that it will all work out in the end. It won’t. There are many more losers in bankruptcy than winners, and in the case of the United States, the taxpayers will be the giant losers.

8. I am the father of four children; they are starting out in life, but given the current crisis, will they inherit the land of Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln or the land of Castro and Chavez?

9. I go to Washington in hope that the outcome will change because of the commitment of tens of thousands of citizens. This will not be a celebrity party; it will be a people of America party and I will be proud to be one of them.

10. An earthquake is about to shake America to the core. Many of the experts have turned off their political seismographs so they are not experiencing the tremors. But the tremors are there, warning of something catastrophic to come. I am going to Washington with the hope that the warnings will be heeded and America, awakening from its long unnatural slumber, will return to the values and principles that made it such a great source of good throughout the world.

11. I go to Washington with a great sense of humility. It is not really about what I want. It is about recognizing what is profoundly right about the United States.

12. Finally, I am going to Washington because of what Lincoln said on the battlefield of Gettysburg: “…that this nation, under God, shall have a new burst of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”