Real Scare

I know that I am supposed to live like the birds in the air that neither fret about a place to stay or food to eat. This morning I had a heart attack as I received a notice from my Wells Fargo Accounts of an overdraft happening. My initial reaction was how could this happen I have money in all of the accounts or maybe a few of the checks I had deposited were bogus?

I have been in the process of helping out one of our seniors whose granddaughter had her deposit and cash a bogus check. So grandma is now in the hole for $6000 and without outside help is in real trouble. All of a sudden my sense of being independent and on top of the world because of a special gift for our mercy work left me in fear. What if I deposited a bogus check that turns out to be bad and I have just spent funds I don’t really have

I work and live around people who do live day to day for everything. I have been spoiled my whole life to have the means to usually do what I want when I want. I received this txt message while we were walking the dogs at 4:30AM today. So I was a little anxious to get back to my house and double check my accounts. I envisioned having to go back to this donor and ask what happened and then have to ask someone else to help cover expenses for this potential mess.

So I have to admit I was relieved when I discovered it was over someone hacking into our non-profit account and spending money, which flagged the system. My fears of going to jail or debtor’s prison subsided now that I knew the truth. I was now upset with the hackers out there who are able to get account info without all of the real info and still get into our accounts.

As I reflect on my lack of trust of God I realize that I am no different than my friend living on welfare or social security that doesn’t have anything and has something happen that means their financial holdings equal zero. I’ve never been in a situation when I didn’t have some money. So when I get a call or message from someone who has $2 in his or her account I can’t relate until this am. What if all of my accounts were hacked and the bank didn’t help me? What would I do? How would I survive?

I think it is too easy to trust and place my hope in the green stuff and not God. The Bible really does warn about the disaster of misplaced trust. How can I not be concerned about income and the economy? How can I be like that bird outside or my herd of creatures in my house who truly believe that there will always be food, a house and place to sleep at night, i.e. our king size bed?

I hear lots of talk about living on less and purposely setting oneself to be content. We have recently downsized a little. So living without cable or a landline isn’t the end of the world. We actually get HD stations using ‘rabbit ears’ and don’t miss the home phone. It is different but very possible to step back and choose to be go out less and even do Starbucks without getting the $4 latte and get just coffee. The reality is that I do need funds in order to make a difference in my neighborhood. So there is a tension between giving that is based upon others giving to me and my decision to live on less that enables me to be able to give more.

My hope is to look around and learn from the birds in the air who know that their heavenly Father is more than capable of providing for them each and everyday. The challenge us humans face is that we want so much more than the simple life.