God, Faith, and Boudreaux

A good friend sent me a timely email speaking about how important faith in God is during trying times. We often focus on the challenges of the day and sometimes lose sight of the big picture. Despite the balance in our 401k's, everyone I know has their health, happiness, a job, and a great family. So all is good!

When I think of faith and the challenge of knowing when to "listen" and when to "act", I often think of my friend Boudreaux during Hurricane Katrina. Boudreaux lived down on the bayou in south Louisiana. As Katrina was approaching, his neighbors drove by and offered him a ride in their car to head north to higher ground. Boudreaux responded, "I don't need a ride. God will take care of me." The next day the flood waters rose quickly and Boudreaux had to climb to the roof to stay dry. A rescue boat came up to his house to rescue him but Boudreaux declined and said "I don't need a boat. God will take care of me." The water continued to rise and Boudreaux was sitting on the top of his chimney. A coast guard helicopter flew above and lowered a man down to save Boudreaux. Boudreaux told him "I go to church ever Sunday and pray to God every day. I don't need your help. God will save me". The helicopter reluctantly left and hours later Boudreaux drowned as the water rose above his chimney. As he awaited processing in Heaven, an angry Boudreaux asked to immediately speak to God. Moments later God appeared and asked Boudreaux what was so important. Boudreaux said "God, I went to church every Sunday and prayed to you every night. I told everyone that you would save me, but you did not." God looked at him and said "Boudreaux, what do you mean that I didn't try to save you. I sent a car, a boat, and a helicopter!"

One of life's great challenges is attempting to sort the balance of faith and action. When do you sit quietly, listen, and wait, and when do you take action?

I Liked IKE

After being caged up in a “non-electric” world for five days after IKE, I had too much time to think. The result…….another rambling rant. Two weeks ago Wednesday at our 15th backyard, no-electricity BBQ, one neighbor said “have you heard what happen in the markets this week?”. I said “no”. He said “Lehman Brothers failed, Merrill Lynch was acquired, AIG may fail, and the market dropped 400 points!”. I responded “this is the week my mentors have been warning about and I missed it!”. Well, it appears that many more fireworks will be going off for all to watch in the near future.

It’s not all bad news! During the down cycle we’ll turn away from materialism and return to God. We’ll focus more on family and friends versus buying new toys. My IKE experience was that no electricity is a good thing. It was amazing to see how “community” emerges when the power is turned off. It was amazing to see kids playing in the street and building forts with tree limbs. It was amazing to see people working together with chain saws clearing out trees. It was amazing to see everyone getting along. I can’t tell you how many multi-family meals we had in our backyard. Challenging times will bring out the best in most. The human spirit is strong and good.

To close, an excerpt from Kuntler’s “The Long Emergency”:
"And in a way, I have my own thoughts about that because I’m basically a cheerful person, and in my own way I’m also an optimistic person. I’m not really a doomy-gloomy guy. And I would leave you with this thought: that the American people have historically been a generous, brave, forward looking, resourceful group, and we’ve shown great courage in the face of adversity before. I think we’ve become kind of a somewhat sloppy and complacent people in the last 25 years or so, but it doesn’t mean we can’t recover a lot of those virtues that are really part of the fiber of our national character. It’s still there and can still be recovered, and I think we’re going to be able to do that. It’s not going to be true for every place and everyone, but I think that’s going to help us a lot. So I have a lot of faith just in our national character, and the better angels of our nature, as Abraham Lincoln said.“