Like many of you I would go the gas station not long ago with great reluctance. There was too much pain in the pocket book for fuel. I felt like I had to take out a second mortgage just to buy a tank of gas!
Finally, something has changed. Gas is now less than $2. I like this sale!
$4 per gallon added up way too fast. We were all driving less, creatively planning vehicle trips to consolidate miles on the road, car-pooling when we could, driving one less vehicle, cutting down on vacations, or thinking twice before we jumped into our cars and racing off for a simple errand. “Experts” were predicting $6.00 per gallon in the near future.
Isn’t it odd how naysayers and prophets of doom come out of the wood work and play on the fears of people? They compound the present difficulty and make gloomy and dire predictions. We are all glad that they way off this time, but they will be back the next time something goes wrong.
Once I was the guest of a friend to an NBA basketball game. The home team was beginning to slip a little. One of their players on the floor who had been in the league for a long time was dribblilng down court. An irrate fan behind me stood up and screamed at the coach for letting a “has-been” still keep playing.
Sure enough, that player tried a difficult pass which was intercepted by the opponents. That fan took the liberty to stand up and scream at the coach for his lousy judgment. But, that same player stole the ball back, spun quickly and dunked the ball for two points. The crowd went wild except for the fan behind me. She was deathly quiet.
A few plays later her unfavorite player had the ball stripped from his hands and the screaming eagle was back at it again, “See, Coach, I told you he was no good!” I burst out laughing. It did not endear me to her. She scowled at me like I was that players brother.
Prophets of doom have it easy. They have a chip on their shoulder. Then, they selectively target the bad, predict more disasters to come and get away from any scrutiny when things go well. I know! Just to be positive and encouraging, maybe we should give President Bush credit for the lower prices!
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November 15, 2008 at 4:21 am
Elle
Hello there, I happened to be looking up “christian funeral services attendants”, on google images. I am singing at my husband’s grandfather’s funeral tomorrow and was trying to get an idea for what to wear. Very silly but important to me. Anyway, I am Brasilian but was raised in the US and am also a believer. I have no idea why I started reading your blog but for some reason i just kept reading and two entries caught my eye, the one about our president W. and Joint Heirs. I also admire our president and we feel ever so squeamish about even mentioning it anymore here in San Diego….it’s like a sin to like the president! And as a young adult I was part of a Joint Heirs ministry in my church (Shadow Mountain Pr. David Jeremiah) who were all the same exact folk profile as yours! I really enjoyed reading your blog. My husband is a teacher and I have an infant daycare at home we have four beautiful sweet little ones.
November 16, 2008 at 8:04 pm
brucefong
Thank you for stopping in for a visit, Elle. You are always welcomed here. Life is a wonderful gift from the Lord but sometimes we all get to a point when some encouragement keeps us going. That’s my prayer for this blog. Come by often! May God grant you His grace and peace!