Financial woes

My husband got up around 2:30 am since he is still going through the graveyard shift withdrawal from not having to go to work during his normal time. He fell asleep around 8pm and then of course was awake early. He was watching CNBC Squawkbox and when I got up at 5:30 this morning, he started telling me about Lehman Brothers filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Tim follows financial news more than I do, but this and the fact that Bank of America is buying Merrill Lynch is big news. I don't know what it all means in the long run to people like us, but it's scary stuff in the natural. I have thought for awhile that the whole economy is really just a house of cards anymore....since so many manufacturing jobs are gone due to outsourcing and we've become more of a service-oriented society (as well as consumption of goods) in the U.S. that eventually what has been propped up is going to have to come down (real estate market being a good example).
So this latest news this morning which is pretty big news and historic as I think Lehman Brothers has been around for 150 plus years made me think about a verse in the Bible, which I looked up after thinking about it. James 5:1 through 6 and I just googled it as I am not sure how to paste it into this post. I thought about all the people who are now losing their jobs through Leman Brothers filing bankruptcy and I thought about my husband being on strike with the machinists union at Boeing. News reports here talk about everyone digging in for a long strike. I thought about (and it's only 7am so I guess I have been doing a lot of thinking already today!) how fast things can change, just in a minute. What you count on for security in this life and this world can be blown away in a second. Like the verses in James talk about, the riches are rotted, the clothes have been eaten away by moths, the silver and gold is corroded. I thought about our 401-K plans and I thought about Enron and World Com and places like that where people lost everything, and I thought it today's uncertain climate who knows what can happen anymore. Which is why more and more I have been thinking about how much more important it is to lay up treasures in heaven, where moths and rust don't destroy and thieves don't break in and steal (Matthew 6:20). Interesting how the treasures here on the earth can be destroyed and the treasures in heaven are safe. Sometimes I haven't thought a lot about or cared to think about laying up treasures in heaven, it seemed more important to lay them up down on here on earth, or buy more new of something I want. And of course there is a balance. But today, just hearing this news, along with news of Ike and gas prices and strikes and financial uncertainity in everything, I am drawn more and more to the words and wisdom of the Bible and Jesus in how to live and handle material things here on this earth, and how to trust in God for my needs. I think I will have a good opportunity to really flesh this out in the upcoming days.

I also plan to do my Daybook for Monday later today!