Meltdowns Require Bailouts

First published Friday, Feb. 15, 2009 in The Daily Sentinel


Still terribly behind in posting my articles from the newspaper onto this blog. Please check the side-navigation under "Recent Posts" if you've missed something that you'd like to see.

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This week, leaders from the House and Senate gathered together to finalize a new economic stimulus package. Almost $800 billion will be pumped into the U.S. economy, creating 3.5 million jobs, according to the Obama Whitehouse. But that’s not what I want to talk about this week.

I came home from a two-day pastors educational retreat on Wednesday night hoping to relax. I’m naturally an introvert, so after 48-or-so-hours being “on” with people, I needed some downtime to recharge my batteries. I didn’t get it.

We had accumulated over two feet of snow during January, and over the past several days, it all finally melted. Then on Wednesday, we got nearly two-and-one-half inches of rain. The snow meltdown saturated the ground. The rain had nowhere to go – except into my basement.

I told my wife I had better check the basement around 8 p.m. since I’d heard the sump pump working non-stop. With all that water, I thought there might be a little seepage into the laundry room, since that’s where the pump is located. I turned on the light in the stairwell, and thought, “That looks a little damp.”

I got to the bottom of the stairs and realized it was more than a little damp – it was downright flooded! More than three inches deep across the entire basement. Our meltdown now required a bailout in the worst way – immediately!

I know living around the Ohio River, basement flooding is not a new phenomenon. Most folks have figured out what to do to minimize the damage, and how to recover quickly when water gets in. And living in Racine, our parsonage basement flooded several times. Those Racine floods were also rain-induced. But we finally figured out that the problem in Racine had less to do with the amount of rain and more to do with a poorly sealed screw-hole for the widow wells.

In some ways, the Racine basement floods were worse because they all came into my older daughter’s basement bedroom. So we had to deal with carpet and furniture. On the other hand, the waters remained contained to one corner of the basement, so all the rest of the basement stayed dry. All our storage boxes and buckets stayed out of harm’s way.

Not so with our flooding this week in Perrysburg. Although our current basement does not have any finished-out living space, we did have quite a few cardboard boxes on the floor, and the waters were EVERYWHERE! Nothing was spared.

I’m sure some people reading this are shaking their heads and thinking, “you should have known better than to put cardboard on your floor.” We did think about that when we first moved into the house last summer. “Does the basement ever flood?” we asked the trustee chair. “Not that I’m aware of,” he said. “That sump pump does a great job taking care of water trying to seep into the basement.”

When the house had new gutters installed last fall, we changed the way water flowed from the house. Before, the gutters emptied directly into the sump pump; now they deflected water at the surface. I thought all of those measures would protect us. Now, I can only imagine how badly we would have flooded if the rain gutters still went to the sump.

So instead of a nice, quiet evening, my wife and I were up until midnight moving boxes and emptying the worst of them in hopes of salvaging their contents. We filled a 60-gallon trashcan with stuff that was clearly beyond repair, and filled every flat surface with the rest. Fortunately, little of the trashed stuff was of great value – financially or sentimentally. But going through all of those possessions reminded me of several scripture passages.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

Jesus said those words during his “Sermon on the Mount” as recorded in Matthew’s gospel. And I thought about how floods can destroy every bit as effectively as moths or rust. And I also thought about how obsessed with our past we can often be. Most of what I pulled up was stuff from more than 20 years ago: high school and college mementos, old record albums, artwork that I drew “back in the day.” My wife’s school materials were more recent, but even they had been sitting in boxes mostly unused for more than five years.

When we store up treasures in heaven, we are not obsessing with our past, but anticipating our future. I don’t really need my collection of ELO, Kansas and Styx albums, nor do I need that trophy I received for being “Outstanding Junior High Boy” at Choir Camp in 1979. I would much rather have the “trophy” for significant ministry waiting for me when I turn heavenward. What happens right now in my relationships is much more valuable than what happened then. Even though I’ve recently re-established connections with many of those friends from high school via Facebook, they aren’t as important as the person I visit in the hospital this afternoon.

So my lesson from this bailout following the meltdown is this: pay attention to the present rather than accumulate junk from the past. Be willing to let go of what was then in order to anticipate what is to come. And finally, stuff is simply stuff.

“Why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:28-33)

The Elusive Search for Safety

First published on Friday, January 23, 2009 in The Daily Sentinel


I've gotten terribly behind in posting my articles from the newspaper onto this blog. So there is going to be a flurry of updates over the next several days as I attempt to get current. Please check the side-navigation under "Recent Posts" if you've missed something that you'd like to see.

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With all of the attention paid to President Obama’s inauguration this week, other stories have understandably taken a back seat. I’ve seen lots of debate on the effectiveness, merit and impact of the various prayers offered in the inauguration. I’ve seen many words of advice to our new president from people from all across the political spectrum. But what has really raised the hairs on the back of my neck this week is peanut butter.

Did you know that peanut butter is suspected to be a potential killer? Kroger, Meijer, Kellog’s, and other companies are recalling their peanut butter cookies, candies, ice cream and other snacks because the peanut butter and peanut paste used to make them may be tainted with salmonella. Even pet food is now embroiled in the mess. PetSmart’s Grreat Choice Dog Biscuits are no longer such a great choice for your pet. And I didn’t even realize that dog biscuits were made with peanut butter.

This situation is quite scary for me – I love peanut butter! My favorite snack food cookie (admittedly a poor substitute for the homemade variety) is the Nutter Butter. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are my favorite chocolate/peanut butter candy. And there’s nothing better than a peanut butter/banana shake!

Blame the whole mess on one peanut butter factory in Blakely, Georgia. According to officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Peanut Corp. of America’s plant has proven to be the source of the Salmonella Typhimurium strain. The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported more than 480 people became sick across 43 states – all from one factory.

That just goes to show how inter-related our entire economy and food chain is across this nation. Because the Peanut Corp. peanut butter and peanut paste is a core ingredient for many other food companies’ different products, the effect is magnified tremendously. People have been worried about “Mad Cow” disease – but now its “polluted peanut butter” that’s the real problem.

Everyone wants to live in a safe world. And despite the Cold War, Vietnam, the oil crisis, and high inflation, we pretty much felt safely cocooned – until September 11, 2001. Since then, everything has changed. We seem to have no limits now when it comes to the elusive search for security.

A new federal bureaucracy – the Homeland Security Agency – now forces us to take off our shoes when flying in airplanes. Two wars – in Afghanistan and Iraq – are supposed to make us safer from terrorism. More than $850 billion in federal aid is supposed to keep our financial systems from melting down. The “Big Three” U.S. auto makers are in dire straits – along with most other industries – so that millions of us wonder whether our jobs will exist next week. And now, even peanut butter is not safe.

All of these problems could depress me and keep me from sleeping at night. But they don’t. And the reason is not that I ignore them most of the time, but rather, because I know that even should the worst happen, things will get better.

The Apostle Paul knew about the elusive search for safety, and he chose not to pursue it: “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:11-13)

Jesus, too, refuted the need to search for safety: “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (Matthew 6:26-27)

I believe that we should take precautions against bad things happening. Increasing our national security is a legitimate function of government – whether that’s economic security, military security, or disease prevention and control. But I want to caution us against becoming so afraid of what MIGHT happen that we no longer let ANYTHING happen.

Safety is elusive. We can never be absolutely safe and still be absolutely alive! And that’s what both Jesus and Paul are trying to tell us. So maybe you don’t eat a Keebler cookie this week, but why not bake up a fresh batch of peanut butter bars and share them with your friends? After all, you only live once!