Blessing or Curse?

I'll admit I was quite amped up with excitement when I saw gas prices yesterday (Kum n Go was $1.43/gal and Sam's Club -- where I purchased -- was $1.38/gal).   Though my car wasn't on empty, I filled it up just in case that number changes today.  A few months ago, when I posted about the low gas prices, a friend of mine commented "what a shame that so many people in the gas & oil businesses are losing their jobs and are suffering because of those low prices".  I think I replied "Let's keep them in our prayers."

I heard a sermon last week about this scenario and it was coupled with the craziness of the torrential rainfall in the Texas area, especially when it has usually been drought conditions.  The pastor said that Texas has received history-making downpours of rain.  I reminder last summer how my kids' neighborhood in Texas was under water restrictions -- no watering their lawns, washing cars, etc.

Think about it....when it rains so much, we are happy that our lakes and rivers are filled, our lawns are watered, farmers are ecstatic that their crops are getting the moisture they need to produce a healthy harvest.  But at the same time, there are people that are quite dismayed that their work depends on "no rain" -- building contractors, landscapers, road construction workers, painters, etc.

Plummeting gas prices means winning at the gas pump for us, but the obvious losers are energy companies and their employees.  There are winners and losers in the continued decline in the price of oil. The obvious winners are consumers at the gas pump. The obvious losers are energy companies. And it will have a ripple effect on other industries.  The same with the weather.....building costs and other industries will sky rocket if the workers can't work.

So REALLY, who are the big winners -- regardless of what the weather or the economy and our future holds?  I don't profess to know the answers, but I DO KNOW the ONE who does, and He gave us His Word to guide us.  Take hold of His promises....and, for sure, our future is so bright, we need shades!

Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

1 Peter 5:7 "Casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you."

Matthew 6:25-34 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

Proverbs 3:5-6  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."