bail-outs and more

Amazing. Incredible. Unbelievable. These were just a few of the words that crossed my mind during the past two weeks as I’ve watched the financial news unfold. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re probably aware of the high profile bail-outs that have occurred recently. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG ...

Experts estimate the eventual cost to be between 500 billion and 1 trillion dollars. Just for the fun of it, I thought I would type out what one trillion dollars looks like:

$1,000,000,000,000

Maybe this will help you understand one trillion dollars. It comes from the internet, so it must be true:

If you had gone into business on the day Jesus was born, and your business lost a million dollars a day, day in and day out, 365 days a year, it would have taken you until October 2737 to lose a trillion dollars.

Or another way of looking at it ...

If you counted non-stop without eating or sleeping it would take approximately 23 days to count to a million. To count to a billion literally would take a lifetime: 95 years. Counting to a trillion, assuming we get started right away and don’t waste any time, would take about 2,000 centuries -- 200,000 years.

Any way you look at it, that’s a big bail-out. An amazing, incredible, unbelievable bail-out.

I’ve had people ask me over the past few days, “Are you scared of what might happen?” My answer has been the same: “No.” And I’m not being disingenuous. I’m really not scared.

Jesus made a promise to me (and to all others who follow him) a long time ago and it hasn’t failed yet. The promise? “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). The “other things” he was referring to were the basic necessities of life.

The reason I find comfort in what Jesus promises is because of what Jesus has already delivered -- an amazing, incredible, unbelievable bail-out. Not in financial terms, but in terms of spiritual wholeness, health, and purpose. When you’ve been bailed out like, what is there to be afraid of?