Tom McCoy pastors Thompson Station Church in, of all places, Thompson Station. January marks his 20th anniversary with that church. When he became pastor, he and Leighann brought the membership total to 8 people. Their Sunday morning attendance now tops 1,800 and they’re rapidly growing. It’s the only church he’s ever pastored, so I guess you would agree with me that he is a leader gifted by God.

Tom fascinates me. Though he has a DMin (Doctor of Ministry) degree, he’s by no means one of those theoretical, philosophical guys who can discuss anything but gets little done. He rolls up his sleeves and gets into the lives of people. He claims that he’s not an intellectual but just operates by common sense. I find him to be one of the most insightful people I’ve ever met on any subject we talk about. Sometimes it aggravates me that his “common sense” brought him to understand things that it took me years of reading, research, and experience to work out. Nah, it doesn’t really aggravate me; I just tell him that. Actually, I’m thrilled to have neighbors like him and Leighann, a wonderful writer and quite busy speaker.

That’s right, Tom and Leighann live on the same drive with George and Crystal, and Alice and me. Great neighbors all. George and Crystal work harder than any two people I’ve ever seen so I try not to look out the window in their direction when I’m lazing around being a sofa spud. They come home from work, change clothes and then launch into yard-work, remodeling their house, cleaning and waxing their cars, or whatever else tops their priority list that day. I expect some night I’ll look over there to see them building a full scale replica of the Eiffel Tower in their back yard just becuase they realized they had some idle time. And to top all that, they are two of the friendliest and kindest people I’ve ever seen.

Anyone on our drive would do anything for anyone else. That’s pretty cool in a day when most people seem not to know who their neighbors are. We really like living here.

I heard on the news the other day that more than 200,000 mortgage foreclosures occur every month now. If I heard it right, more than a half-million people in the USA were laid off last month. The economy is awful, not just here but all over the world. The most optimistic opinion I’ve heard is that it will take at least 18 months to turn things around. Maybe Obama’s crew can get it done faster. I pray they do.

Alice and I have had to think about what would happen if the economy put us in a position where we couldn’t pay our mortgage. We’d have to sell our house, of course, taking whatever loss occurred. We’d lose living on this great drive with great neighbors. I’d no longer have my yard that I drive around on my John Deere as I cut the grass. Oh, and we’d have to sell the Deere. The more I thought about it the more I worried. What if what is happening to so many happened to us?

That’s the state of mind I was in when we went to a concert at Thomson Station Church as Tom and Leighann’s guests. George and Crystal were invited too, of course. We sat near each other and talked until the concert started. Just before the intermission, a young man (forgive me that I forget his name) made a presentation about Compassion International. That’s a group through which you can sponsor a kid in another country who has needs we seldom think about — food, medicine, shelter, clothing. He showed slides of children in his arms as he has traveled to those places in the world where these basic needs exist. As he talked it was almost as if God nudged me. I realized that my fears — rational or not — aren’t about whether we will eat, get medical attention, or have a warm place to sleep. No matter how bad the economy gets in the USA, there will always be people who will feed, clothe, and shelter us in this nation. Staring at a picture of a little girl whose teeth had fallen out, whose beautiful brown skin was now a sickly shade of gray, I felt like the most self-centered man on the planet.

Alice and I will sponsor one of those children. How could we not? And I decided to send an email to my daughters to tell them how blessed we are and that if the economy were to hit us as it is hitting so many families already in the USA, it’s not the end of our world. It’s just stuff. Stuff that most people in the world don’t have. As I turned on the laptop, I found that my daughters — completely independent of the experience Alice and I had just had — were thinking the same way and sending emails to us saying, in essence, the same thing.

As long as we have the people we love, our health, and our God, what should we fear? Losing a house, a car, a tractor? Ridiculous, isn’t it? As my early mentor, Paul Tarence, taught me so many years ago, “When you find yourself afraid or worried, stop and ask ‘What is the worst that can happen?’ Then you will typically discover that as long as you are with God, the worst usually isn’t as bad as you have made it in your mind.”

So to all those people who struggle with cancer, MS, or anything else: And to all those in the world who have no food, or shelter, or clothes: I’m sorry that I let the current economy make me worry. Forgive me for being so blessed and feeling so anxious in times like these. Instead of begging God to let us keep what we have, I will focus on asking Him to give you what you need.

After all, if we have those we love, we have health, and have God, all the rest of it is just stuff.

(If your marriage — or the marriage someone you love — is in trouble, let us help. https://joebeam.com/troubled_marriages.htm#form or call 615-545-6957. It’s a lot more important than worrying about stuff.)