The Oz Syndrome – Quest for Success or Quest for God?

My friend was so earnest. It was clear that she truly believed what she was saying. “You’ve got to have faith! With faith in Him, it’ll happen. Put yourself in His hands; God will take care of you.” She equated her personal success to her faith in God. I wanted to ask how that was workin' out for her.

Denny and I just looked at each other and smiled. For more than three years Jennifer has been struggling to realize her dream of running a non-profit arts program for kids, to help fill in the gap left when government school funding began disappearing (thanks, Pres. Obama). During that time she filed for the non-profit status required and ran up against the IRS brick wall because of a snafu on her home mortgage loan.

Her home is in danger of being repossessed because she lost her job about the same time she spent the dollars she thought she had, to apply for non-profit status. Her mortgage company jerked her around and now she’s in litigation and a class-action suit against them.

Jennifer still believes God will take care of her. Since 2007 she’s had multiple business and personal associates who have drained her of energy and dollars. I kept my mouth shut today. Believe me, that was a major accomplishment.

I’ve tried to believe in “God.” In fact, I looked for “God” in Baptist, Protestant, Catholic, and Lutheran religions. Then took a peek at Buddhism and Confucianism … suffice it to say, I was seeking the “man behind the curtain.” After years of disappointment, I dubbed my quest the new definition of the Oz Syndrome. 

The answer my friend, is blowin’ in the wind … and it always comes back to me.

No-Fault Life -- It's Called Compromise

The word “fault” was bandied about in a recent family argument. “It isn’t my fault!” “It’s your fault!”

Part way through the heated discussion (OK, yelling match), I thought I made a good point about not assigning blame at all; to consider that fault is not the issue. Point is, the situation exists – what are we going to do about it?

But of course, since the shrieking outweighed any common sense remark, my observation fell on the proverbial deaf ears. You can’t hear anything while you’re shouting.

My weak compromise (I was willing at least to take equal “blame”) was, “Even California has a ‘No Fault’ law!” And we know that California’s government loves to blame everyone except itself for its blown-out financial state. I thought that was a credible comment.