Investments - what's your view

So if you’re like me, your 401K is off by 50%, your company is reducing it’s work force and you are wondering when it will all stop. Do I move my money, to I keep it where it is, do I just buy a motorcycle and drive off a cliff somewhere. It’s not that we put our trust in our money (at least that’s what we tell our “Christian” friends so they think we are more spiritual then we are) because the bible says to put our trust in Christ alone. But it’s like anything else in life, when we spend all our time in the minutia and don’t step back to take that 20,000 ft view, we can seem to get lost or worse yet follow the wrong path. My dad used to say, “you can’t see the forest for the trees, son”

Of course I have found the opposite is also true, if we spend all our time at 20,000 ft, we never grasp the reality of the situation for ourselves or anyone else. We do that sometimes when we make blanket statements about who is a good person or bad person, who is the right political party or candidate, or which path someone else should take, and we do so from the safety of our white washed sepulcher; never experiencing what those people experience each day.

So, if you are still reading this you may wonder what the heck Tom is talking about. Well I have been spending a lot of time at 20,000 ft. In my 401K at work I had that hands off mentality, long term, 20,000 ft - which cost me some last year, but I could have saved a lot money this year if I had just been a little more engaged in my investments. Have you had this experience? At church I have been watching the campus launch from a distance. Oh, I’m there each week, but not really engaged, staying safe in my white sepulcher

At home, I’ve been in the minutia, running from sporting event, to event; eating dinners from a sack and wondering at times when it would all end. Oh, and driving past hurting people in need; some of those even in my own house, without notice or care.

Have you been there? Did you find your way out?

I have, and it’s all come together in a word…. E N G A G E D.

Instead of just doing what happens either in the little details of life or at 20,000 ft, I have become engaged in what I am doing. I guess you could say I care again.

If you are not engaged the solution doesn’t matter, only the problem does. But when you get engaged, your not part of the problem, you are the solution.

God’s solution.

You see,
Being Engaged is looking to God’s word to guide you and give you peace, not the financial section of the newspaper.
Being Engaged is having a growing relationship with Jesus Christ (only happens when you listen to his word and act on it)
Being Engaged is looking for the place to serve at church because what you invest in, you care about (mine is ECM)
Being Engaged is looking around you to those in need while you live life (mine is my small group that meets on Sunday nights)

Are you Engaged?