Power to Change devotional posted today.
http://powertochange.com/blogposts/2010/03/03/finding-where-we-don%E2%80%99t-belong/
Posts Tagged change
Published in Crossroad Magazine, October 2009.
See page 10.
http://www.crossroadmag.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=114&Itemid=67
Change.
It’s in the air. It’s in the media. It’s on the front page of every newspaper.
It’s true, but not for the reasons you may have been told.
As Americans, we have changed. We were forced to do so, in order to survive.
Within a few short weeks, economies around the world collapsed all around us. Most of us have yet to understand what was behind it all. We just know that things are different now.
The news of gloom and doom really hit a few months before gas prices reached $4 a gallon. As we were told by the media how expensive it would be to fill up the vehicles we drove - the world then marveled that vehicles sales were dropping.
And then, finally, we reached a point that we suspected the media was creating the news, instead of simply reporting it.
For example, in Nashville, just as Hurricane Gustav was about to hit the Louisiana Coast in August of 2008, I clearly remember all the news channels telling us on a Wednesday evening that gas prices were about to shoot up and we should all go out and fill up our tanks as soon as possible . By the next day, prices were over $3 a gallon, and there were long lines all over town. And, oddly enough, the hurricane had not yet hit the coast.
By that weekend, gas was almost $5 a gallon, and there was none to be found in Nashville. It seems that everyone did as they were told; taking their boats, vehicles and extra gas cans to be filled. In essence, it seems that our actions created the very gas shortage that we were warned against.
As Gustav came and went, becoming much less of a factor than anyone anticipated, Nashville continued to be in a “disaster area” of its own because of the gas shortage. When gas was finally delivered to any station, it was gone within an hour. The police were called in to direct traffic and stop the fighting because of people cutting in line.
Within a few months, we were hearing reports of banks collapsing, there was a mortgage crisis, and no one was buying goods of any kind.
As it turns out, panic serves no one well. But maybe, if the media stops reporting it, they might also stop creating it.
Last November started the five weeks of news that basically, Christmas had been ruined for everyone.
But as a nation, as an American, as a family, this gave us time to think – to reevaluate what happened and to turn off our TV’s long enough to figure it out for ourselves.
It was all a vicious cycle. In the past, we bought houses that were too expensive for us. We used money we didn’t have to buy things we didn’t need. We tried for years to ‘keep up with the Joneses.’ But later, when we watched as the Joneses lost their house, we determined that we didn’t want to go where they were headed after all.
So, yes, things have changed. But, I dare say that if you were to take a look into most of our living rooms, what you would find is not “gloom and doom.”
We eat at home, together. We discuss what’s happening in the world, and then decide what we should do about it, without being told. We realize that celebrities are just people with flaws, and that their opinions are no more important than our own.
And we understand that the economy will eventually improve, but even when it does, we will be content with less than before – from this point forward, all we need is just enough. And this is something decided on our own.
Along the way, it seems, we discovered a need to know the truth. And truth is something we can only determine for ourselves.
This is our nation. These are our families. And America has to play by our rules. This is our future, and we are willing to fight for it.
So Attention all media:
The reason no one is watching your news- it’s because we no longer trust you to tell us the truth.
As a matter of fact, we are telling you the truth, and you refuse to report it.
The truth is that our country is not in as bad shape as you think; and the voices that matter are not your own. The American dream is still alive and well, and it’s time for us to reclaim it, on our own terms.
We still believe in God. We still believe in Christmas. We still believe in each other. We are the greatest country in the world. We owe no one an apology. We stand for what is right. We work hard to provide for ourselves. And these are the beliefs that unify us, regardless of our color.
Change. It’s in the air, and it would be wise for the world to listen.
For some reason, our plans have a funny way of never being used – as if our life has chosen us rather than it being the other way around.
For the past year, we thought we were moving to a new city because of Tommy’s job. But here we sit with our house on the market, a list of unanswered questions as to where we are headed next, and looking back on a year of waiting for something to happen that never fully developed.
It served as a great reminder that we are basically in control of little in our lives. Not knowing the future is kind of unsettling, but yet settling at the same time. There is nothing we can do about it but wait to see what is revealed to us when the time comes.
Maybe we were meant to stay here, in a smaller house that doesn’t own us like our current house does. Maybe we are still meant to go elsewhere, because you don’t really learn who you are and what you are made of until you leave home, right?
One thing I know for sure – going through the process of getting ready to change everything in your life helps to decide what you need to keep and what has to go. It’s like packing up your house for a move – you realize that there are many things that you are better off leaving behind.
So, for now, we continue to embrace the art of knowing nothing, and rest in the fact that God is preparing a place for us.
And I guess we can wait to see it.
