Gain Your Soul

We all remember that passage in the Bible that asks, "What good is it for a man to gain the world yet lose his soul?"

Of course, Western man has been chasing the world and all the luxuries in it for some time now...and many have hit the end of their rope.

This article in the New York Times is talking about the fact that millions of people have been unemployed for years now and the scary thing is that millions of jobs ARE NOT being created....so where does that leave them?

BUENA PARK, Calif. — Even as the American economy shows tentative signs of a rebound, the human toll of the recession continues to mount, with millions of Americans remaining out of work, out of savings and nearing the end of their unemployment benefits.

Economists fear that the nascent recovery will leave more people behind than in past recessions, failing to create jobs in sufficient numbers to absorb the record-setting ranks of the long-term unemployed.

Call them the new poor: people long accustomed to the comforts of middle-class life who are now relying on public assistance for the first time in their lives — potentially for years to come.

Of course as you read the article, you understand it to be just one more story on the bad news gripping the world....but then you find this little jewel tucked in the middle;

Here in Southern California, Jean Eisen has been without work since she lost her job selling beauty salon equipment more than two years ago. In the several months she has endured with neither a paycheck nor an unemployment check, she has relied on local food banks for her groceries.
She has learned to live without the prescription medications she is supposed to take for high blood pressure and cholesterol. She has become effusively religious — an unexpected turn for this onetime standup comic with X-rated material — finding in Christianity her only form of health insurance.

“I pray for healing,” says Ms. Eisen, 57. “When you’ve got nothing, you’ve got to go with what you know.”

Did you catch that bit of news that should warm every Christ follower to the core??...an ex-stand up comic doing trashy jokes has found the Lord!!! She may be losing the world she once knew...but in return she has gained her soul!!!

Friends...ask yourselves this.....is it possible that God is stripping away things in our life that we were worshiping, trusting in, relying on, so that we can finally see Jesus....who has been standing there all along asking us to, "Come follow me!"

Read it here; http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/business/economy/21unemployed.html