December 30, 2014
Having
now survived through more than sixty years of existence on this earth, I am
absolutely convinced by dint of experience that no one really has any accurate
idea of what the future holds. Mankind
lives with a kind of insane conceit that somehow we can foretell the
future. Perhaps that is because to admit
the alternative, that we have no guarantees of tomorrow and that many of the
things that shape our lives are completely out of our control, is so limiting
and, if faced honestly, frightening, we embrace the lie that somehow “I am the
master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul” (Invictus). Life, itself, reveals the delusion of that belief.
I
recall at the end of 2013, with the “government shutdown”, the endless predictions
by pundits of the demise of the Republican Party. It was all over for Republicans, the party
might never recover from the wrath it incurred by forcing the government
shutdown. Control of the government by
the Democrats for the foreseeable future was assured. Twelve months later, we watched Republicans
make huge gains in the House and take over the Senate in the 2014 elections. All those prognosticators couldn’t have been “wronger.”
Just
a few months ago, Putin was anointed the new king of the world by the “experts.” Russia was on the rise, and predictions of a
new Soviet Union were being bandied about.
Now, Russia is on its knees politically and economically. Putin is just struggling to hold on to
power. What happened? Some political master move? Nope.
The bottom fell out of the price of oil.
An empire built on hundred dollars a barrel oil was in big trouble with the
price around sixty dollar. So much for
world dominance.
Along
that same line, I paid $1.759 a gallon for regular unleaded fuel at a SAM’s in
Tulsa last Saturday. Who was predicting
that 2014 would see the bottom fall out of oil prices and gasoline go under
$2.00 a gallon? I honestly don’t know of
anyone who saw that coming. But consider
the impact economically the contraction in the price of oil has had on the
average American household. My son, the
other day, was talking about how he felt like he had just gotten a raise
because of the drop of the price in gasoline at the pump. The impact of the sudden dip in the price of crude
has literally changed the world economically and politically.
My
prayer is that 2015 will be a year of prosperity and peace. And maybe it will. But I am realist enough to know that we are
one terrorist act, one plague, one major storm, (and the list could continue ad
nauseum), away from a whole new, and unforeseen world.
What,
blessedly, allows me to put my head on my pillow at night and sleep soundly and
worry free, is the assurance God is in control.
The King of kings and Lord of lords rules over all (just ask
Nebuchadnezzar after his little lesson shared in Daniel 4). So, as the old adage goes, I may not know
what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.
May
God bless your richly in the New Year.
Dan
Rouse
No comments:
Post a Comment