Friday, March 19, 2010

2011

Looking into the future is a dangerous proposition. Nevertheless, I will offer my own personal view of what I feel is coming in 2011. 2010 in my view is a year of transition. We are seeing a steady transition and erosion of freedom in America. Due to greed and avarice our economy is in a state of shock and dependent on government bailouts. China buys our future debt and slowly and inexorably we become less free to determine our future as a collective society. We continue on our path towards hitting the proverbial 'brick wall' of disaster. Due the large size of our economy and until recently our role as the world's consumer of 'cheap'goods, our demise has been delayed. The balloon of our bubble economy has burst but the air has leaked out slowly. In 2011 we will begin to live a new kind of lifestyle in America. We will come to the sober realization that in fact we are not the big shots we thought we were. Highly talented and educated people will work if at all at jobs way below their pay scale and expectation. The American dream becomes more and more a mirage based on history and not present day reality.
There will be a collective sense of despair as people realize that the choices they have made personally and corporately have them them in a place they never wanted to go. For those with faith there will be a deeper sense of dependence on God in prayer. There will a return to searching and seeking truth in the Bible. For those without a clearly defined faith there will be deep confusion and a sense of hopelessness. Some will strike out with acts of rebellion and defiance seeking for a return to the past through desperate acts.
Being prepared for the future begins with a proper orientation to where we are today. We are in desperate need of a moral center based on absolute truth. No matter how much you want to be somewhere else in life... reality is what it is. We need God.
Jim

Friday, March 5, 2010

Looking in the Mirror

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is look in the mirror. There is the mirror that we face each morning as we prepare to meet the world head on. We spend time making ourselves 'presentable'. We cover our faults and buff what we can't cover. The older we get the longer and tougher it gets to obtain the image or appearance we feel we must present to others. It's hard to just be ourselves in a world that judges appearances as reality.
There is also a mirror that reads our inner person... our souls. Through our perception of truth, our souls issue a daily report on our inner selves. For many the concept of truth is fuzzy, if not confusing. What can we tune ourselves to for spiritual guidance that will enable our souls to be at peace when we look inward? In the New Testament book of James chapter 1 and vs. 23 we read, "Because if anyone is a hearer of the word (truth) and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at himself, goes away, and right away forgets what kind of man he was. But the one who looks intently in the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts--this person will be blessed in what he does.
There is a conscience embedded in our soul that won't let us stay 'ugly' on the inside. God wants to put the lasting beauty of a transformed character into all of us. There is one mirror we dare not avoid in life. The mirror of truth found in the word of God. Today, choose to place yourself in the presence of the perfect law of freedom.... and get beautiful from the inside out!
Jim