Avoiding Catastrophic Loss

Grounded with Chuck Quinley

We all want to get ahead in life. Every healthy person has dreams and visions of a better life they want to build. In the past, it was a dream about a career and building wealth, but I think people are starting to wake up to the need for a broader vision of life that starts with a healthy body, an upbeat mindset, a robust community, the anchor of family, and a meaningful body of work.

You may be surprised to discover that God wants all of this for you. Humans were actually created to enjoy a wonderful experience of life.

In this episode of the podcast will go deeper into the Genesis one narrative to receive God's unchanging wisdom about how to live successfully in this relational/physical/spiritual world.

The Lure of Quick Success

The allure of rapid success is particularly strong among the youth, captivated by tales of making millions in a matter of months or achieving instant fame through clever strategies.

By midlife you start to know people who were once rich but lost it all to the economy, their partners, or in a nasty divorce. We have friends who were once such strong pillars now drinking way too much. Former “alpha males” lose their health and stature overnight to a stroke.

In a universe with powerful forces of destruction like entropy and “the darkness” (from our previous videos) it doesn’t take much for things to go bottom up.

The First Order of Business

The Bible is here to guide us on a journey to knowing the God who made us, and walking with Him throughout the journey of building our little worlds in a way that reflects his values and dreams for all humans.

In our last episode we witnessed the grace gift of God’s presence being seeded throughout the physical world so we can find God’s presence in the field, the house, and at work. God is everywhere for us. That makes life possible. We’re invited to dream big and bring those dreams to Him for review and blessing.

We’re so excited to start on our bold vision, and ready to bet the farm on the new idea, but the first order of business, according to the Genesis narrative, is actually to mitigate loss. Not very exciting. The gun goes off and we’re double-lacing our shoes while others charge ahead.

But our universe is hostile against us. That’s the first lesson to the wise. No fairy tales about “the universe” bringing our dreams true. In the Genesis story, the one thing you can count on from the default forces of the universe, is to resist your efforts, create friction at every turn, and to help you pick up so much speed going downhill that you’ll never make that curve.

The universe wants to destroy all life. That’s why the moon is not a tropical paradise. To our best knowledge, there’s not a single living bacterium on Mars, Jupiter or anywhere else.

Ours is a hostile universe. It kills all life throughout the galaxy—except here on Earth and there’s just one reason.

God is our friend.

He’s the only way we survive. If we’re going to make it to the end of the race and see our vision of a great life become a reality, we’re going to have to walk in step with Him and constantly mitigate the catastrophic loss that’s hovering above us.

Ge. 1.6-7 NKJV Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters....and it was so."

The “Firmament”

In the Genesis story, after God seeds his presence (Shekinah light) everywhere to allow life to spring forth, He creates a defensive barrier, the Firmament (key idea is “firm”).

The Firmament is a sky shield to protect us from catastrophic dangers above. In biblical language, it keeps the watery deep from swallowing earth from below and above.

Again, this is symbolic language, but it has parallels in nature, like in the way our oxygenated atmosphere protects us from being struck by 48 tons of meteoroids each day (*NASA).

The Lesson to Us

The point is that comfort is not our friend. We can’t coast our way to a good life. If we want a great experience on earth, we have to work against the anti-creation forces and make the life we want.

In later passages we’ll learn that we have the power to make this happen, but not without intentionality on our part. To build a great life we must first establish an atmosphere of protection around ourselves and our little worlds.

"A disaster is an emergency poorly met."

Can We Avoid Catastrophic Loss?

While we can’t avoid all forms of tribulation (squeezing) in the world, the Bible’s message is that Yes!, we can mitigate catastrophic loss and seize the kind of life we dream of, because it’s the one God intends for us.

We can live fulfilling lives, have strong families, and build wealth as a defense and a gift for future generations. Such ambition pleases God. He will, actually, join us on the endeavor, as He did with Abraham and use the events and challenges we face to shape us in His image.

It’s just that we shouldn’t get too invested in the work of building until we create a security perimeter around the key areas of our lives. Building and maintaining, those defense structures keep our labor in play and preserves it from being brought to nothing later.

* Marriage. If you are married, the universe wants to see your love die. The anti-creation forces around you will work to tear you apart and leave you hating the thought of each other, ruining every holiday for your kids. So, what are you going to have to do about that to make your good marriage become great and survive all the tests of time?

* Wealth. OK, Bitcoin is the next great thing, but we need to think about capital preservation more than explosive growth in our financial strategy. If we never lose, then we keep growing our base year by year. That’s why Warren Buffet is the Oracle of Omaha.

* Our bodies have to last till we hit our 90’s. A bag of chips a night and a comfy recliner insures 25 years of pain in the last half of our life. What is your daily system for keeping your body healthy?

* Our minds. The physical universe is tough enough, but the digital one wants to fill you with anxiety, despair, and drift. Unless we dream of life in the Matrix, we need to turn off the screen, put our phone in a box 15 hours a day, use our brains, and develop a champion’s mindset. What’s your firmament plan to keep your mind strong?

Building and maintaining a firmament at all times is job one. That’s the lesson of the firmament to me. We all need a secure atmosphere all around us in order to thrive.

“The only thing harder than planning for disaster is explaining why you did not.”

Questions

Consider what persistent concerns signal vulnerabilities in your life.

What can you do to take action to protect yourself in that area?

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