20 SEP 08: A PEACE OF THE ROCK
(BLOGGER'S NOTE: You may find the following item humorous, serious, or a little of both - but we offer these thoughts from time to time, as we keep a seventh-day Sabbath.)
So how has your week been? As a radio announcer in Dallas said years ago, "Have you made a million yet?" If you made it this week, please tell me how - because it must have been at online poker, instead of the stock market.
This week's news included the "de facto" government takeover of AIG - giving taxpayers control of a major insurance company. Yet I'm still waiting for the TV commercials offering me a corporate discount, like car companies do....
Did you know AIG has a Columbus office? It's located on Veterans Parkway, and the staff there must have been on edge this week - unsure if their company would even survive. The company had an ethics scandal a few years ago. But no one could have imagined there would be a scrambled AIG someday.
I attended church for years with a local AIG agent - and I sent him an "e-card" this week, expressing my sympathies for what he's facing. He sent this reply:
Thanks for your prayers this week. It sure has been earth shattering for our little world, but knowing we have the rock to stand on, makes weeks like this bearable. God and his principles are truly too big to fail.
Do you notice the faith this man has? I really don't think that "rock" he's standing on is a job offer from Prudential....
Jesus told a parable in Matthew 7 about building a house "on the rock." It survives when the storm comes, while a house built "on the sand" has a great fall. Keep that in mind the next time you travel to Galveston Island - because the seawall there is built with big rocks, and I think it's still standing.
But what rock is Jesus talking about here? I Corinthians 10 indicates HE is - "the rock was Christ." In fact, that chapter indicates Christ helped Moses lead Israel out of Egypt - apparently as part of the Godhead, before appearing as Jesus the Son. That's one plot twist they haven't even figured out how to do on soap operas.
If you stand in faith with Jesus and follow His instructions, you can know you'll endure the trials of life. The Old Testament leader Joshua indicates God's good promises do NOT fail -- and they're a whole lot bigger than AIG and Lehman Brothers.
OK, this sort of thinking isn't exactly a new revelation. But the need for it keeps showing up in new ways, as it did at AIG. And it keeps being expressed in new ways - such as this one from a Christian singer, who "rocks" in a different sort of way.
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