With this being said, on the other hand I am extremely fortunate. There are many people out there that are in far worse shape than I am. I am fortunate that I do not have a wife and kids to support (not that I wouldn't love to have a wife and kids), I don't have a mortgage on a house to pay for, I don't have a car payment to make, electric bills, I could go on. It is somewhat disheartening seeing so close to home how troubled this man must have been to make the life-altering decision to rob this gas station because he felt like he had no hope and that was his only choice. It is sad to think that that man's life will be changed forever because of one decision, he will probably spend time in jail, have a record, then have an even harder time getting a job when he gets out. I don't live in the bad part of Dallas, so robbery is not a "normal" thing for me. I think that is why this is so strange that it would happen in my own neighborhood.
"With recession, must come reform" These words have been, I guess you could say, floating around in my head the last hour or so. I don't know why I thought of that or if I heard it somewhere, but it seems to me to make sense. Reform defined by Merriam-Webster is "1 a: to put or change into an improved form or condition b: to amend or improve by change of form or removal of faults or abuses". The Great Depression was a terrible terrible time, but eventually we had to come out of it and the economy finally improved as I think that we will do in this bad economic time. If we could come out of such a terrible economic state and still thrive as a nation, I see no reason why we can't do that again when we are not nearly as bad off as then. I think of the economic state we are in right now as a sort of valley, and as with any valley, if you just look up you will see the mountain top. The point being that as long as you look up and keep moving forward you will eventually find yourself out of the valley and on top of the mountain.
Do not fear the times that we are in. Times are always changing or else it would just be called "Now" there would be no past or future.
I encourage anyone who reads this not to be too worried about what tomorrow will bring or even next week or next month. Just put your trust in God and he will provide, even when nothing seems to be there. As I am writing this my own words are coming back to bite me because I know that I have not wholeheartedly done this myself. Everyday is a learning and growing process physically and in your walk with God. I pray Lord, that you will help me to trust you more with every aspect of my life, help me hear you and obey you with childlike faith and anyone who reads this let them have the same faith and hope for the future. Amen.
-Danny
Danny:
ReplyDeleteI really like your input here. One of the main things that hit me as I read it was that you didn’t automatically write the robber off as a thug who should be locked up with the key thrown away. Granted, he should be (and hopefully will be) locked up to pay for the crime, but you went further to look into the “why” of the matter and the complications that such foolish acts only guarantee. This is wisdom.
I also agree that we cannot get too worked up over “the times” we find ourselves in. Just a quick study of human history will show you two things: first, that there have always been tough times, and the second thing is that this, too, shall pass. One of the main things I’ve learned in life is that nobody really knows what’s going to happen in the future. A lot of people think they know what will happen, but they really don’t. I think we cause ourselves a lot more stress by trying to figure out how things are going to be rather than just trusting God and doing what we know is right one day at a time.
A lot of people are worried about what’s going to happen next year, but we don’t even know if we’ll be here tomorrow. If you could ask most of the people (if not all) who died today if they thought they were going to die they’d likely say no. We really have no clue. But that’s part of the adventure.
Keep writing. It’s good stuff!