A banker friend of mine was telling me of writing off bad loans at a rate of $10 to $15 million per month. That is easy to understand where I live. The shopping center on the corner near my house sold for $16 million five years ago. The owner went bankrupt during renovations and the bank took over. A new buyer came in at $6 million, but flaked out when he realized the existing tenants would move or go out of business if he raised their rents. The bank owns the shopping center again. Only half the shops are occupied. Another shopping center across the street is half occupied, and there are three new centers within one mile that stand completely empty.

The gym where I exercise is located in an office/industrial park where more than half the buildings have been empty for several years. My gym is expanding into the adjoining suite by knocking out the wall. The gym is one of only four businesses on the street, so the building owner is grateful to accommodate.

The economy is in terrible shape and sober analysis justifies expecting things to worsen. More financial adjustments are coming behind the ones being made now. Maybe a genuine depression like that of the 1930s is unfolding. Maybe.

Every generation worries that its problems are the worst. But mostly life goes on. We keep skating successfully over thin ice. We stumble without collapsing. We reorganize, and continue living much the same as ever.

Some of my friends went bankrupt recently. Their real estate business went from boom to bust. They could not keep up with demand with the help of a dozen employees for a while. Now there is no demand. They moved out of the big house into an apartment. And they like it. The neighbors are friendly. Not like the owners of the other big houses where they once lived.

We imagine the future in terms of the past… “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9, NSRV). However, the bad judgment and mistakes of the past do not completely control the future. “God created human beings, making them to be like himself” (Genesis 1:27, GNT); creative. We sometimes make a mess. But then we can turn around and use our creativity to quickly clean up the mess.

The future is uncertain and that is good news. The future holds more than the consequences of our past behavior. We may experience consequences in the future, but we can be sure that the future holds much more than consequences.

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