Cheesecake and a Robot

Sadly the state of our economy is forcing a lot of big-name companies out of business this year. Places such as Circuit City and Linens N' Things have already gone bankrupt. I was sad to recently read that some of my favorite places are struggling...like The Gap, Starbucks, and...[gulp!]...The Cheesecake Factory! A recent article on Forbes.com predicts that these retailers are just a few that will be closing stores or going out of business this year. Howard Davidowitz, chairman of the New York-based bank Davidowitz & Associates, gives his opinion that things will only get worse as our government continues to spend money when we are already deeply in debt...it seems like a no-brainer that you DON'T spend money when you're in over your head. But, that seems to be the way things are going as our government spends more, prints more money, and drives the value of the U.S. dollar down. The jobless rate is at a 26-year high, we've reached a historic decline in housing prices, and a record number of foreclosures. This is just in the United States. The recession is a global phenomenon.

Hearing all of this can quickly send me into despair! It reminds me of something that happened a few summer's ago. My husband woke up at 2am one morning with severe pain in his right arm. I woke up to find him sitting at the computer googling articles about heart attacks. I immediately told him to get dressed and drive himself to the ER! I had 2 sleeping children and was 8 months pregnant with our third, so I nervously waddled back to back to bed, praying every second that he would be okay. However, in the midst of the prayers, my brain kicked into high-gear and I deduced that he was probably having a heart-attack in his car and would most-likely die enroute to the hospital or immediately upon arriving. As I lay in our bed at 2am, my brain had already jumped to the conclusion that I was either going to be a widower...or the caregiver of 3 small children and a disabled husband.

Fortunately, his pain was due to a pulled muscle, but it is interesting how quickly our minds can travel down a road that hasn't even happened and may never happen! I can quickly go the same route with our country's financial problems...thinking about what would happen if Kevin lost his job...foreclosing on our home....living in our parents' backyard in a trailer. Or what if we're hit with a famine as some very godly Christian leaders have predicted!? And yet, in the midst of my spiral into despair Jesus whispers to my soul... In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)....and do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear....Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life (Mat 6:25,27). Sweet Jesus reminds me that He is in control of whatever happens...it has already been planned. The thought of financial devastation and ruin sends me into a true longing for Heaven...what a wonderful promise that this life is not all that there is!

Our nation has undoubtedly been prosperous and I, for one, have taken it for granted. It's hard not to when we're bombarded with clever marketing and we look out our window to see our neighbor driving by with the newest sports car. Not only that, but how often do we come across someone begging for food in our middle-income neighborhoods? Sure, I can drive downtown and see poverty or homeless people, but poverty is personally not a daily reality to me. Not because I'm heartless or because I choose to turn a blind eye, but because I'm not seeing it around me daily, so I'm instead consumed by the task at hand and caring for my children. By God's grace, my daily life is not consumed with where our next meal will come from at this point in time. But, things could quickly change for any of us.

I am reminded of the recent movie Wall-E. The movie was really boring, but it was pretty revealing. The movie is about the destruction of the earth. Humans fail to keep the earth clean and waste builds up over the years, leaving the planet uninhabitable...the pollution keeps the sun from reaching the surface, so no vegetation can grow. The humans build an elaborate spaceship and go to live in outer space until Wall-E and the other robots can make the Earth habitable again.

After 700 years in outerspace, the humans grow very reliant on the machinery around them and suffer severe bone loss from living in microgravity and consuming liquid food. The humans become extremely obese and unable to walk. Even the spaceship is controlled by computerized autopilots instead of the human captains. The extremely fat humans ride around all day on motorized vehicles and have constant entertainment in front of them...televisions are affixed to their vehicles and they spend their entire waking minutes video-chatting with friends, playing computer games, or watching their favorite movies. Constant entertainment. A liquid milkshake is plopped in front of them several times throughout the day...the people never have to lift a finger. The sad thing is that they miss the beauty around them. None of the spaceship occupants ever realize that they are surrounded by gorgeous swimming pools and a resort-type atmosphere. And yet I'm reminded how often I'm sitting in front of my computer instead of admiring the beauty around me--my family.

These humans have constant entertainment at their fingertips...they are basically fat, dumb, and happy. This movie was eerie to me because it is not far off from what our American society has actually become...lazy, fat, over-stimulated. We are always looking to our next "fix"...our next "high" through media outlets, food, drink, relationships, entertainment. But nothing in this material world numbs our pain forever or satisfies our deepest longings.

When I feel sad or depressed, I often find myself going to the computer to numb my pain--where I can plug into a world to connect with my best-friend from 7th grade or my neighbor down the street. I can temporarily forget the cares of this world. Or I can go online and shop...a mindless sort of shopping where money seems to be "free"...it's all digital and no cold-hard cash is changing hands to make me feel like I'm really spending money. I think we all have addictions ...places or people or things that we run to when this world seems to be "too much." And all our Heavenly Father desires is for us to run to Him...to fall into His lap--not just because this world is too much, but because we love Him and want to know Him. He is the only one that can satisfy.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. 1 Tim 6:10

Surely every man walks about as a phantom; Surely they make an uproar for nothing;
He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them. Psalm 39:6

Whoever loves money never has money enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.
This too is meaningless. Ecc 5:10