An Average Joe

Who am I? I'm just your average middle-class American. You know the average Joe that everyone is talking about. The ones the polititians claim to be working to protect and the ones that the Occupy movement claims to represent. I'm just one of the many desperate souls lost in the sea of the 99%.

So what does this mean for me? What is life really like? Well, let me tell you, it's a lot of work.

I have to work 40-50 hours per week just to bring home enough money to feed my family and put a roof over their head. It's crazy. It just sems like there's no time to do anything but work to pay the bills.

You see, the expenses just keep stacking up. Everyone needs food, water, and shelter right?

Food. I have no idea how to grow vegetables, hunt, or raise livestock so I pay someone else to do those things. Then packaging and preserving seems to be a lot of work, so I'll pay someone else to do that part too. I've head that some of their methods for doing this involve lots of chemicals and may pollute the environment, but I'm sure the government will crack down on that soon. At least I hope they do. At any rate, groceries aren't the only way to get food. I can always pay someone else to prepare the entire meal for me. That's such a great option. No fuss. No cleanup. Just sit down and let someone else do the work. Now that's something I could get used to.

Water. Everyone absolutely must have clean water so I pay someone to gather, purify, and deliver that water right into my house. But you know the funny thing? I don't actually like the taste of it so I pay someone else to add a ton of synthetic ingredients to it to sweeten it up and I just drink that.

Shelter. I have a lot of stuff and I love to have my friends over so I need a lot of space. Every chance I get I move to a bigger place because more and more stuff seems to be building up in my home. Then I have to pay someone else to give me the energy to heat it in the winter and cool it in the summer. I just can't stand the temperature swings of the changing seasons. But it's not all bad, I get to use that energy to light my house and stay up late into the night instead of being told by the sun when to go to bed. Then I pay someone else to create a drug to get me to sleep at night. Then there's coffee. Some may call it a luxury, but I call it a necessity. After staying up late by the light of my house, I can barely get going the next day without my favorite cup of joe.

And that's just the basics of food, water and shelter! There's still the cost of movies, music, internet, and video games for my entertainment. And since I have to work so hard to pay all these bills, I absolutely have to have a vacation every year. Wait, make that 2 vacations. No wait, make that a summer full of mini-vacations, plus one big one, plus another one in the long winter months just to get me through. And I get bored with my surroundings so I'll have to shell out some extra change to go somewhere new and exciting. Good thing I can always pay someone else to give me more money if I run out.

Who am I? I guess I'm actually the very rich, and very blessed 1%. And now I need to figure out what I am going to do in response to the real 99%.

http://www.globalrichlist.com/

You Can Still Come Back

Sin is one of those aweful things that not only causes a rift between the sinner and his God, but it tends to plant the seed of doubt and shame as well. For me, sin has often left me in a state of ovoidance toward God. I have this perception that He is mad at me or that He doesn't want to hear how I've failed yet again. But I am learning more and more that the God we serve is far more forgiving than I think.

1 Sam 12:20-22

20 “Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. 21 Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. 22 For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own.

Samuel strikes right at the heart of the matter. Yes, you've sinned. But don't let that keep you from moving forward. Recognize your sin, ask forgiveness, repent, and move on. Or in the words of my old boss, "Own it, fix it, and get over it."

This verse is very reassuring to me as a sinner who often needs to come back to a loving God. I am grateful that his grace extends to me and to anyone else who will ask for it.