Stewardship

God's Unfairness

Many years ago, when my mind was quicker and my decision-making ability more keen, I was hired to work in communications at the police department in the northern suburbs of Denver. It was the place where they answer the 911 calls and talk on the radio to police and other emergency responders. They were desperately seeking someone with my skill set and experience, so in order to entice me to leave the job I already had, they offered me more money than normal. That kind of opportunity does not come around very often so I took the position.

However, it created the rather awkward situation where I was making more money than my supervisor. I was sworn to secrecy and I did my part to keep my salary to myself. After several months, somehow she discovered how much I was being paid and, needless to say, she did not take the news very well. For some reason, she chose to take out her frustration on me.

Her salary had nothing to do with me. Before I arrived, she was content with her wages. When she discovered that I was making more money, all of sudden she felt that she was being treated unfairly. Although she and I never discussed the situation, it was not a good environment. She blamed me for the fact that she was treated unfairly.

I have thought about this experience many times over the years as I have seen how people like to compare their income with the incomes of those around them. Many of us like to determine our value by the wages we earn, so when someone makes more money, they must be a better person in some way. Jesus told us that money is a powerful force.

My Hopes for 2009

It seems that everyone who writes regularly proposes a list of predictions for the coming year or a record of major events for the past year. I thought about doing the same myself, for a few minutes at least. My problem is that I have a poor memory and I did not want to drag out the calendar or scour everyone else’s lists in order to make my own. That would not be very creative anyway.

Also, I am not big into making predictions. If I were, I would probably pursue a career in gambling, since it really would not be gambling. I have no idea what is going to happen in 2009 and if anyone thinks they do, they are either deceiving themselves or trying to scam someone else.

Since I have no predictions to make about the coming year, I thought I could at least share some of my hopes. Hopes are not based on any ability to prognosticate, and they may or may not be realized. There are a few things in the stewardship realm that I would like to see happen during the next twelve months. I think we will all be benefited if these hopes are realized.

My first hope is that Christians will soon take the lead in environmental issues. Protecting the environment has become a major movement, which is a good thing. However, it is rather distressing that Christians have not been the ones leading the way. In fact, it is often Christians who stand in opposition to those who advocate environmentalism.