Hello Everyone,

I know it's been a long time since I posted to the blog, but here it is again. My commitment to try and get on this. I do enjoy it, but as I'm sure you've discovered, there are times when life gets in the way. When it does it's sometimes difficult to get back into it.

Anyway, if you're reading this today perhaps you're a little bit worried about what the day will bring. We've all been hearing in the news that the U.S.'s credit rating has been downgraded. If you've ever had that happen in your home life you know that it's not a good thing. It seems that all the investors in the world know that too (of course) and the stock markets have been a bit touchy because of that economic event and other's. In fact I was hearing someone on the radio today suggest that we may be facing the worst recession since World War II. 

That seems pretty nerve-wracking, especially for Oshawa, where we live and where our local economy has already been hit hard by the past few years' turmoil in the auto industry.

I can't and won't sit here and offer hope about our financial predicament. That is, I won't sit here and claim that God will most assuredly give us financial prosperity. That's not the promise of the gospels. His promise for us, however, is that He will take care of us--somehow, someway--God will provide for us. We may not live glamourously. We may not have lots of extra to throw around. We may very well be called, in a greater way than in the past, to give generously, in fact, to help those in need. But regardless of how bad things get--even if we were to suffer famine and drought like the people in the Horn of Africa right now--even then, God will not abandon us. 

In all of what comes, no matter what it is, we have to keep in mind that God's idea of taking care of us is not always the same as ours. Sometimes we face times of plenty that test us with temptations to excess (but still God is there). Sometimes we face times of famine, and some people in our world (people who love God) even die at those times (but God is still there). You see He, of course, takes the long view. Whatever we face in this lifetime God WILL use it to the good of those who love Him. 

Just like James, Jesus' brother said: "Consider it all joy, brothers and sisters, when you face trials of all kinds"... why? Because, ultimately those trials will help us mature into the fullness of Christ who loves us.

That is my prayer for this time: that we may grow through whatever trials we face into the fullness of Christ. Amen.