Spurgeon on Anxiety and Trust

Psalm 55:22 – Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you;

 

CARE, even though exercised upon legitimate objects, if carried to excess, has in it the nature of sin. The precept to avoid anxious care is earnestly inculcated by our Saviour, again and again; it is reiterated by the apostles; and it is one which cannot be neglected without involving transgression: for the very essence of anxious care is the imagining that we are wiser than God, and the thrusting ourselves into His place to do for Him that which He has undertaken to do for us. We attempt to think of that which we fancy He will forget; we labour to take upon ourselves our weary burden, as if He were unable or unwilling to take it for us. Now this disobedience to His plain precept, this unbelief in His Word, this presumption in intruding upon His province, is all sinful. Yet more than this, anxious care often leads to acts of sin. He who cannot calmly leave his affairs in God’s hand, but will carry his own burden, is very likely to be tempted to use wrong means to help himself. This sin leads to a forsaking of God as our counsellor, and resorting instead to human wisdom. This is going to the “broken cistern” instead of to the “fountain;” a sin which was laid against Israel of old. Anxiety makes us doubt God’s lovingkindness, and thus our love to Him grows cold; we feel mistrust, and thus grieve the Spirit of God, so that our prayers become hindered, our consistent example marred, and our life one of self-seeking. Thus want of confidence in God leads us to wander far from Him; but if through simple faith in His promise, we cast each burden as it comes upon Him, and are “careful for nothing” because He undertakes to care for us, it will keep us close to Him, and strengthen us against much temptation. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.”

Day Three – We’re Here!

Wa sei! (That means wow in Mandarin).  We landed in China around 2:00 PM on Saturday.  It has become reality now.  Noone looks like me here.  Noone speaks like me here. After picking up our bags we headed to purchase our domestic tickets to get to Chongqing.  We had purchased these previously but lost those tickets due to our delay in the States.  So Charles met up with a Chines guy in a jumpsuit and a handheld credit card scanner to purchase some new ones.  Shady in the States i suppose but par for the course here.  Everyone was staring at us.  I don’t mean just looking at us, but staring.  We were later told that is normal, but it was a bit unnerving when we first experienced it.  I stepped outside the airport to take a picture of a small piece of Shanghai.  The delay would force us to miss our time there.  We headed to Chongqing after a couple of hours in the terminal. 

It was a much different flight.  No in-flight movie.  Tiny unspacious seating.  Chinese food served for a meal.  No Americans on the flight.  I was able to meet a young Chinese couple – Sky and Wendy were their American names – who were sitting next to me.  We had a fun conversation which ended when Sky pulled up an episode of 24 on his computer.  I offered my portable speakers and Sky, Wendy and I watched Jack Bauer knock off a few terrorists.  Nothing like Jack Bauer to bridge the gap between culture right? 

We landed in Chongqing and realized that what we thought was China back in Shanghai, wasn’t China at all.  Now we were in the heart of the country and it was evident that much fewer Americans visited here.  There was much less marketing to westerners.  The airport wasn’t as nice.  And we were met with an aroma which we have come to know as a distinctly Chongqingian one.  We grabbed our luggage, I said goodbye to Sky and Wendy and we headed to meet Jeff, our friend who lives here.  It was great too see someone who can speak both languages.  He hailed two taxis for us and we began our journey to the district of Jie Fang Bei where our hotel is.  The taxi ride was amazing in itself.  There were lines on the highway, but they seemed to simply be suggestions, even the divider lines in the middle of the highway were not heeded.  Again, “wa sei”!!!  But, we arrived at our hotel safely, unloaded everything and headed out to get our first real “taste” of Chongqing – the food.  Jeff took us to a “dishes” restaurant and proceeded to order 8 dishes for us to try.  It was spicy!  We washed it down with some Chongqing beer which was really more like alcoholic water.  It was really bad.  We finished dinner around 10:30 PM and walked around the area for a bit.  Amazingly similar to an American city, there were two Starbucks within 1/2 mile of each other!  New China is not like Old China.  Time for bed.  Big day tomorrow.  Finally get to meet some Chinese people!

Day Two – Leaving Atlanta . . . .again

The condition of the hotel turned out not to matter that much.  I overslept by 45 minutes!  Still haven’t quite figured out how to use all the feature of the World phone.  Jamie, Charles and David headed to the airport without me and i quickly showered and repacked my stuff to catch the next shuttle.  I arrived at the airport and looked for the shortest check-n line.  As i walked up to the back of the line, I looked over to my right and saw the fellas at the check-in counter in a different line.  So, I walked over and handed the lady my passport.  Didn’t have to wait in line even a minute. . . just like i planned.  

Keeping with our theme of delay, after we were in the security line, one of the guys looked down at the tickets and noticed that the date was yesterday’s date.  After quickly conferring with the security checkpoint lady, we got out of line and went back to the check-in counter so she could print out the correct boarding passes.  Finally we made it through security, took the concourse train to our concourse, had breakfast, chilled in the Crown room again (thanks again) and went to our gate.  The delay then continued as we were told one of the flight attendants from our crew (the same crew as yesterday) had fallen and hurt herself badly enough that she was being taken to the hospital.  Unbelievable.  This of course delayed our boarding because they had to get a stretcher on the plane and then get her off.  It wasn’t life threatening but she landed on her lower back and they wanted to take every precaution.  We finally boarded, but had to sit at the gate for 30 minutes or so because they had to wait on a replacement flight attendant who had the proper visa to fly to China!

We finally took off about 25 hours after our original departure time.  Since it was a 16 hour flight and China is 12 hours ahead of us, we would be landing at 1:30 PM on Saturday in China (1:30 AM in Georgia).  We watched several more movies, read some of The Good Earth, by Pearl Buck and slept as much as we could.

Day Two’s Accomplishments:  We left Atlanta and did not return, watched movies, slept, watched more movies, read part of a novel and slept some more.

Day One – aka The Longest Day

It was a rainy and dreary morning, which could have alerted me of what lay ahead if i looked for those sorts of signs. My alarm went off at 4:15 and i reset it for 4:30. Not sure what i think an extra 14 minutes of sleep is gonna do for me, but anyway. After i showered and packed up all my toiletries i went downstairs to eat some breakfast and get all my gear ready. Steph was on the couch still. I tried not to wake her, but it was impossible. We talked for a few minutes. She was feeling better but still weak and tired. She was beautiful as ever. Josiah was sound asleep. A few minutes before it was time to leave i went upstairs and gave hugs and kisses to the girls and woke them up to tell them how much i love them. They were groggy and did not get out of bed. Micah didn’t budge despite numerous hugs and kisses and “Hey buddy”s. I’m sure he was dreaming of superheroes. I went back downstairs and opened the door to open the garage. The girls heard the door chime and ran downstairs crying because they thought they had missed me! We hugged and kissed several more times. I gave Josiah a kiss and he began to wake up. He looked at me and smiled the same way he did yesterday before i left for work. I hope he doesn’t forget me in ten days. Do babies forget that quickly? Steph and i embraced and traded several “I love you”s and “I will miss you”s. Micah slept.

David and Charles pulled up at 5:30 AM and we loaded the baggage and pulled out. Steph, Em, Grace and Jo Jo waved and blew hugs and kisses through the guest bedroom window. I caught them and blew some of my own. I will miss them terribly.

We swung by to pick up Jamie and were on our way. An hour or so later, after stopping at David’s dad’s house so he could drive us, we arrived at the airport. It was becoming real now. Charles made some comment about it being the last time we would set foot on American soil for 10 days. He would come to regret that statement! Checking in was no problem. Security was a breeze. Had Arby’s for breakfast?? Hung out in the Crown Room for 30 minutes or so (thanks Greg) and then headed to our gate. Everything was going smoothly. We took off on time with all of us in aisle seats, Jamie and Charles across the aisle from each other and David and I directly behind them. Things were looking good.

About 3 hours into our trip we heard of a medical emergency. Didn’t think much of it until about an hour later when we looked at our flight map and saw that, after having made it up to the Hudson Bay, we took a left turn and were headed back to Minneapolis. Apparently an 80 year old man who had a stroke two months ago was having complications. We had to land in Minneapolis to take him to a hospital. After landing in Minneapolis they told us that federal law prohibits flight crews from working too many hours in a row and that we would have to fly BACK to Atlanta and spend the night. We would then leave the next morning at the same time for Beijing. Yep. We arrived back at Hartsfield Interanational Airport at 7:45 PM. Ten hours after taking off we were back to square one. So, they put us up at the Comfort Inn North, a dump of a hotel but we didn’t care that much. We went to eat and have “our last glass of water not from a bottle” (Charles’ words again, he seems to not have learned from the previous day’s comments).

Day One’s Accomplishments: Watched two in-flight movies and accumulated 4000 Delta Sky Miles. Ten hours of travel time. Still in Atlanta. It felt like some time-space continuum.

The Day Before

This was a long day. I had quite a few things to get finished at work, needed to go shopping for some last minute items and still had to pack everything up. Steph began running a fever today so, being the awesome husband i knew i needed to be given that i’d be leaving for 10 days, i picked micah up from school and let him run some errands and hang out at the office with me. Then i picked up the girls and finished up at the office and went to Walmart for the last minute stuff. This allowed Steph to get some much needed rest. It was evident already that this day was not going to go as planned. Steph was resting on the couch when we returned home and, unfortunately for her, had to remain there the rest of the night. She was miserable. After eating, it was time to put the kids to bed and say goodbye. This was hard especially for Emily and Grace. They cried for 15 minutes or so. Finally they fell asleep on the promise that i would wake them before i left. Micah didn’t really understand what was going on. After the kids went to sleep, it was a very lonely night. I missed my family even before i was gone. I placed some Hershey’s kisses in four separate bowls so they could have a “kiss” from Daddy every night before they go to bed. Man, this is going to be hard.

Cool Financial Software

Some colleagues of mine and I have recently created a cash flow management system called The Cash Flow Bootcamp which is designed to help families communicate and track their spending more easily and willingly.  In our research we came across some pretty nifty financial software.  You can check it out on Simple Planning’s website.  The most practical calculator of the eight they have is the Budgeting software.  It is only $10 and is very robust for that amount of money.  Or, you can buy all eight for $40.  Let me know what you think.

Let’s Not Be Prudent Now

Timothy Geithner’s thoughts on the need for banks to begin lending more money to small businesses, ”When banks individually pull back out of a sense of prudence and caution, the collective impact of those actions will make the economy weaker and make each individual bank worse off,” Geithner said.

I get it.  I mean it just makes sense to lack caution and be imprudent when making decisions about lending money.  This is America right?

Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

Here’s this morning’s devotional from Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening.  If you haven’t checked this out, just click on the link.  It refreshes everyday.  Hope you enjoy. 

Salvation is the work of God. It is He alone who quickens the soul “dead in trespasses and sins,” and it is He also who maintains the soul in its spiritual life. He is both “Alpha and Omega.” “Salvation is of the Lord.” If I am prayerful, God makes me prayerful; if I have graces, they are God’s gifts to me; if I hold on in a consistent life, it is because He upholds me with His hand. I do nothing whatever towards my own preservation, except what God Himself first does in me. Whatever I have, all my goodness is of the Lord alone. Wherein I sin, that is my own; but wherein I act rightly, that is of God, wholly and completely. If I have repulsed a spiritual enemy, the Lord’s strength nerved my arm. Do I live before men a consecrated life? It is not I, but Christ who liveth in me. Am I sanctified? I did not cleanse myself: God’s Holy Spirit sanctifies me. Am I weaned from the world? I am weaned by God’s chastisements sanctified to my good. Do I grow in knowledge? The great Instructor teaches me. All my jewels were fashioned by heavenly art. I find in God all that I want; but I find in myself nothing but sin and misery. “He only is my rock and my salvation.” Do I feed on the Word? That Word would be no food for me unless the Lord made it food for my soul, and helped me to feed upon it. Do I live on the manna which comes down from heaven? What is that manna but Jesus Christ himself incarnate, whose body and whose blood I eat and drink? Am I continually receiving fresh increase of strength? Where do I gather my might? My help cometh from heaven’s hills: without Jesus I can do nothing. As a branch cannot bring forth fruit except it abide in the vine, no more can I, except I abide in Him. What Jonah learned in the great deep, let me learn this morning in my closet: “Salvation is of the Lord.”

Hawks

I had the pleasure of going to Game 6 of the Hawks vs. Celtics series on Friday night at Philipps Arena, and it was incredible.  I have never been to a game that intense.  The Hawks pulled it out too, to force an improbable Game 7 against the team everyone had picked to win the NBA championship.  It’s been a long time since the Hawks were any good and since people actually came to see them play.  I also was able to spend some time with a friend of mine who grew up with me in the Buena – Clay – and my father-in-law and a couple of friends from around the ATL – Danny, Eniola and P.J.  It was truly a great night.  Makes me want to go to some games next year.  

I think they may actually win some games next year too.  Three starters are 22 or under – Al Horford, Josh Smith and Marvin Williams – and their star player – Joe Johnson is in his late 20s.  The Hawks are back. . . .maybe.  Josh Smith and Josh Childress, two of their key players are going to be restricted free agents this coming year.  That means other teams can make them a contract offer and the Hawks gotta match that offer to keep them.  After this series, a lot of teams will be interested in those guys.  So, J-Smooth and J-Chill, if you are reading this, and i know you guys read my blog – please stay.  Take less money if you have to, but stay. There, that was easy.  

The Tuesday Morning Quarterback? I never knew.

Saw this in the latest Draft Mockery by the Tuesday Morning Quarterback.  Pretty cool.

An Ecumenical Proposal: Easter fell unusually early this year, on March 23 — it will not fall on that date again until 2160 — while Passover is in progress now. Why doesn’t Easter come immediately after Passover? That is, after all, what happens in the Bible. Passover begins on the 15th day of Nisan under the ancient Hebrew calendar; the Easter date is determined by a complex formula involving the vernal equinox and the paschal full moon. Both dates are arbitrary in the sense that no one knows which day the historic Passover or resurrection occurred. When Jesus walked the Earth, Passover commenced on the 15th day of Nisan, just as today. The complicated formula for scheduling Easter was invented during the Middle Ages, when the Church of Rome was hostile to Judaism and wanted to avoid reminding parishioners of the Passover-Easter relationship.