Instead of turning into the Casino...

Last post, I shared about looking out at the casino near our office. Let's look a little closer at what can keep us from turning into that parking lot -- by being willing to face something as scary as... a gas pump!
Dr. Tony Wheeler, the Director of our Midwest Center for StrongFamilies (www.midwestfamilycenter.com) is fond of sharing an amazing story.
In the state of New Jersey, like everywhere else across the country, the cost of gasoline has gone up and up. It seems that in 2006, in the face of soaring prices, their governor at the time decided to do something that experts calculated would drop the price of gasoline 5 to 10 cents per gallon immediately. There could be huge savings statewide if they could just make that small change – but even the suggestion brought a huge outcry. In fact, the Governor’s office retreated on making this change after being swamped with over 1,400 e-mails and calls that poured in from an outraged public! (That was five times the “outrage emails” they gotten regarding anything else the Governor had proposed).
What was it that fired up people so much that they shouted down making such a small change? The Governor had suggested that people be allowed to pump their own gas! But in New Jersey, motorists haven’t pumped their own gas in 57 years. Cries came that people would put the gas in the wrong hole! That the elderly couldn’t do it and would harm themselves! That gas stations would be blowing up all over the state from smokers filling their tanks!
In short, fear shouted down positive change. Proverbs 16:13 says, “The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! A lion in the open square!” You’re not going to take a step outside if there are “lion-sized” problems out there! (Real or imagined). Fear blows up our problems and decreases our feelings that we can do anything about them.
So – if you’ve ever pumped your own gas without harming yourself or others – then you might think about sharing this story with someone you’re working with who is fearful of taking even that first small “step” towards a positive future. Or perhaps, as you think about your own life, you need to ask the hard question yourself. “Have your fears in these difficult times caused you to slow down, stopped you from moving forward, or caused you to question your faith not just in a positive future, but in the God of the future?”
I’ll start by being honest. Our little ministry has been hammered by the economic situation like never before. I’ve faced heart pounding, stomach tightening fears, just like many of you. But I promise I won’t turn into the casino on the way home, and like you, that I’ll keep turning towards a loving God who does have a positive future for us, and who sent His only Son who will “never leave us, nor forsake us.” (Hebrews 13:5b). Write more soon, JT