Padre Gatica

There is a saying in Chile that goes like this: "Padre Gatica predica pero no se practica." The translation goes like this: "Gatica the priest doesn't practice what he preaches." I had that thought in my mind as I pondered upon the bottoming out dollar. The dollar has lost about 20% of its value in the 5 months that we have been down here. And the prices of things have not gone down, but they have gone up. So what does this have to do with Padre Gatica? Well I remember a message that I shared in November 2005 during a North American missionaries conference here in Chile. At that point the dollar was "way down" in the mid 600 range (it had been up to 740 in July of 2003) and I reminded the brothers and sisters about the sovereignty of God over all things including exchange rates. "We need not worry", I reminded them, "our trust and our hope is in the Lord." And of course I believed this when I shared it and I believe it just as much today. But the interesting thing is that through this time of financial uncertainty I have been crunching the numbers a little more than normal and have read more articles about inflation and recession than I had ever before in my life. So what happened? Had I forgotten about the Lord and His provision for all of our needs from past to present and of His promise to take care of our future? (physical needs yes, but more importantly our spiritual needs) Once I noticed this sin of unbelief and let go of it I received great peace from the Lord. I know that the Lord is still on the throne. I know that the Lord has brought us to this town of Curaco to preach and live out His gospel. I know that He holds the future. So I decide, so I desire to no longer be live like Padre Gatica but to live like an obedient, trusting child of the Most High God. Trusting Him for who He is, for what He has done, for what He is doing and for what He will do; all for His glory and for the good of those who love Him, those who have been called according to His purpose.