faith. and a lack of hard times

this week i have been really struck with how tough things are right now. i've developed a habit this summer of reading the paper in the morning, a routine i'd have to say i enjoy quite a bit.

there has been a streak of negativity for the past couple of weeks, as one thing after another is catching the attention of newspaper reporters.

teachers who've been laid off aren't able to make things meet. their income was split in half when they received the pink slip and it has been a downward spiral since then. thousands upon thousands are in this situation, many having to stare bankruptcy and foreclosure in the face. it's a reality they never thought possible five, ten years ago.

a family and the community around them were floored this week when two little boys, 10 and 12, were killed. from all angles the police believe it to be a murder-suicide, or worse yet, a suicide pact. the boys had been active in school and were well liked. they were left at home for a few hours as the mom went to work. they were dead before she got there.

a man, his two year old daughter, and pregnant wife stopped me in a parking lot tonight. he had worked for general motors and was just laid off the week before. their life had been a tightrope of paycheck to paycheck living and now they were living out of a motel. yesterday they spent the last of their money on paying for their room and for food. they asked for anything that could help keep them afloat.

my point with each of these is not to make a sob story or put you in a depressed mood about the way things are. that's not what i'm getting at.

in each of these instances, in the newspaper articles for the first two, and lastly in the poor family, there was a faith. there was a hope, however small and dim. God was brought up in each circumstance and was attributed as the thing that was in control, and that He would still be trusted through it all.

that's what i'm getting at. i, and perhaps many around me, have lived a comfortable life. tragedies have been few and far between, nothing compared to the situations of these and many like them. i say that i have faith in God but i don't know if faced with tragedy like this, i would hold strong. hold strong to the truth of who God is: fully loving, eternally faithful and present, completely in control.

i read about all of this in His word, learn about it in the classes i take, but how can i know if it's taken root and changed my heart and head? i'm not inviting hard times, but i'm just saying sometimes comfort can be a bad thing, when we begin to get calloused and numb to what God has called us to: faith in Him with passion, through the blackest of storms or the quiet of summer evenings.