Pew Pension Survey: A Fiscal Wake-Up Call for the States | Swampland

Pew Pension Survey: A Fiscal Wake-Up Call for the States | Swampland.

My mom was a public schoolteacher in California for 30 years. She was amazed at the quality and robustness of her health insurance coverage when she retired. It looks like that might not last much longer. Thankfully, she may not experience any alteration, as she is 84 years old, and it might take a little while for the dust to settle and decisions to be made.

I appreciate Mr. Von Drehle’s use of the term “magical thinking” with respect to politicians assuming their poor leadership and choices would be circumvented by an assumed rise in the stock market. Hosea was just kidding when he talked about sowing and reaping.

I occasionally struggle with magical thinking, and it’s helpful to be reminded of its absurdity…

possum kingdom lake

Possum Kingdom Lake - home of Boy Scout summer camp for Troop  890. I think I’ve only been there once to drop off my son, Nate for camp. He had cherished memories of that place. Possom Kingdom Lake is also one of the latest victims of the Texas wildfires.

It reminds me of Nate’s other favorite camp, Eagle Lake – the Navigators summer youth camp near Colorado Springs, Colorado. Eagle Lake was also threatened by fire – the Colorado wildfires of 2002. Nate was there as a camp counselor that year. The fires were encroaching and the camp was evacuated in advance of the flames.

Because he had been a firefighter one summer with his brother, Tim, Nate was allowed to remain behind as part of the contingent battening down the hatches. He told a story about climbing the mountain on the far side of the small lake to cry out like Elijah and plead on behalf of the camp, that it might be spared.

And it was. The flames actually went around both sides of the camp.

There is a respite right now, but I’m sure there are a lot of Texans still asking God to spare their homes and towns from further fire. And I pray he would. I pray he would send them Elijahs to cry out on their behalf…

doubt…

Eve “was convinced God was holding out on her.” She was “convinced that she could not trust his heart toward her.” She was “convinced that in order to have the best possible life, she must take matters into her own hands.”

Those statements are from John and Staci Eldredges’ book, Captivating. And they most aptly apply to my mental and emotional state the past few days.

I received my lease renewal contract last week, and  was struggling with whether or not to sign it. Beginning in June, I will no longer have an income – and how can you enter into a financial contract when you know you can’t pay it? I soon become one of the burgeoning group of unemployed who have exhausted their 99 weeks. And that anniversary happens to coincide with the completion of my job training program. I wonder if I feel the way graduating college students do? All dressed up with nowhere to go. And just like them, I’m wondering if I need to move back home with my mom.

In order to halt my self pity and the tears beginning to cloud my vision of the office computer, I took a walk on my lunch hour to wrestle with God. Last year at this time, I was officially homeless – a far too common theme in my life. A number of kind friends let me couch-surf for the several weeks it took to secure what turned out to be an unexpectedly short contract job, and a studio. I’m grateful to have made it through a full year since that scrape. And now it’s time to embark on a new faith-building adventure. Only my faith is pretty small. And so, the lunch-hour wrestling match.

As I walk west down Jackson, I audibly discuss my distraction, my self-pity, my fear, my disappointment. I don’t animate the conversation, as there are too many people around. I tell God I am incapable of getting over this emotional hump. Like the father of the demoniac, who said, “I believe, help my unbelief,” I say, “I need you to empower me to trust your heart and your schedule and your provision. I don’t want to be like Eve…”

When I return to my computer, I realize I feel a lot better! Burdens have been lifted. I am actually cheerful the remainder of the day.

But I’ll have to return regularly to that place. To that place of total insufficiency and complete dependence. Tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after. Because we’re not in heaven yet. And this is one of the few means you have to keep us connected in the meantime…