The talk these days is about the economy...or, should I say, the lack of a positive economy.  Oil prices continue to climb, driven more by greed of speculators than by actual supply-demand considerations.  Yesterday, one of the Arab oil ministers said that he thought oil would reach $140-$150 a barrel by the end of the summer; so immediately, almost in a matter of hours, oil topped $140.  Speculators caught the meaning and began to drive to reach $150.  Food prices continue to climb as well, driven by the results of the catastrophic floods in the Midwest and the millions of acres of cropland that are now idled for the year.  I have a friend who raises cattle to sell.  He told a group of us the other day that he is now selling all his steers as he cannot afford to feed them $8 a bushel corn.  He is losing $1,200 per animal.  He further said that beef and pork prices in the store will look good for about the next 4 months or so, then, to put it in his words, "Only those who still have any money will be able to eat meat."  $8 a pound hamburger might suddenly make me a vegetarian.  The housing bubble is still in "burst-mode."  One analyst I read this past week said that it would be the summer of 2009 before the housing crisis reached the bottom.  And the credit crisis continues, some fearing that the worst days yet lie ahead. 

Is there any good news on the horizon?  Absolutely...Jesus is coming!  Yet I realize that all of us are affected by a declining economy.  Giving in many churches is dramatically lower than in past years.  Many of you in business are feeling the ramifications of higher energy prices and a lowered consumer confidence.  Those of you who are in nonprofit organizations or in missions already know that support raising has become more difficult.  I know in our ministry - Village Schools of the Bible - we are seeing some decline in overall giving.  If all we looked at were dollars and cents, then we would all be fearful, not only for the future, but also for the present.  Yet our future and our present is not predicated upon what the oil-futures market does, or what the hedge-funds say about corn and soybeans, or what the value of the dollar is against ...well, you name the currency of your choice.  Our hope and our future is based upon this absolute reality...Jesus is coming!  And so we cling dearly to that truth.  It is our lifeline in the midst of a world of change...at times chaotic change. 

This past Tuesday I had the privilege of sharing with a group that meets every month.  We call ourselves: The Brown-Bag Prophecy Club.  We bring our brown-bag lunches - sometimes they are in brown plastic grocery bags - and spend a couple of hours sharing observations about our world and our society and how those pieces fit into the grand prophetic picture we see in the Bible.  We really have lots of fun and some of our discussions become quite fascinating.  But we are all becoming more aware of what is happening around us.  Anyway, this past Tuesday our discussion focused upon economic news.  One of the members is a Christian financial planner.  His news was not very cheery.  But I drew people's attention to Revelation 6:5-6.  In that passage John declares that the economics of the last days will not be any better than they are today.  In fact, they will be worse.  During the days of Jesus and the first century AD, wheat normally sold in the marketplaces for eight quarts per denarius.  (A denarius was equivalent to the wages a man received for one day's work).  Wheat was very nutritional and often would only be found in the kitchens of the wealthy.  Also in that same marketplace one could purchase twenty-four quarts of barley for a denarius.  Barley was the staple food of the poor.  You needed to consume more barley in order to obtain the same nutritional value found in wheat.  Now John tells us that during the later days, a denarius would only purchase one quart of wheat or three quarts of barley.  That represents a staggering inflation rate.  However, John continues with this imperative: "Do not damage the oil and the wine."  Most scholars think that John is saying that in the last days there will be an ever-widening gap between those who have resources and those who do not. 

Friends, perhaps what we are seeing is merely the birth pangs of a yet greater economic uncertainty that will come - hopefully after the Church has been raptured home.  So we can rest in His love and in His care. 

Do I have a solution to the economic woes of our time?  No, I really don't.  In fact, I am not certain that anyone has an answer, including those running for presidential office this year.  Perhaps we will have to draw closer together as believers to help one another.  One member of our group last Tuesday suggested that we might go back to the days when goods were traded for services.  Interesting thought.  But I am glad, and I know you are as well, that our hope is found in nothing, except on Jesus Christ.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: If you have to borrow money, borrow from a pessimist.  He never expects to get it back anyhow.