It’s a Different World

It’s a different world than I grew up in

This past fall, before our world came to a crashing change I told my wife, “If someone would have told me years ago that I’d be making as much money as we were at the time I would have said they were crazy. And yet, we can’t make ends meet.”

Growing up in the eighties the dream of making over $50,000 a year was just that, a dream for many. Many families lived on $50,000 or less a year with only one bread-winner, or one person working part-time. Today, families and couples struggle when making $70,000 to $100,000. Many families have two people working full-time and at least one of them working part-time or doing side hustles.

When we grew up we fought to keep our phone bill under $100 by watching how many long-distance calls we made. Today our phone bills for two phones is averaging $300 from companies we’ve been customers with for twenty years.

Growing up we thought friends who had cable, which cost about $25 a month were living high. Today families spend $120-200 a month for Internet or cable, which are the entertainment equivent today.

Those extras don’t even touch the rising cost of needs like food, clothing, and medical care. Doctors that cost $25 for appointments are now $150 a visit.

The Different World of Failing Promises

It’s a different world that we were taught by our schools that if we worked for education and worked hard anyone could have a fairly decent life. Get an education and succeed.

When I was in my thirties we were encouraged in most job markets to expand our education and greater success would follow. Many of us, even in ministry went on to get our Master’s degrees. No one would say there was a promise of better pay, but many pressured people into believing that without that extra degree and training, they would be pushed aside as better education was needed.

The truth is that the push for such education has now created an over-degreed society, in which more people have master’s degrees and more educational debt anchoring them from true peace and success. The dream and the hope fade and the false promises leave many of us burned out.

The Different World of Uncertainty

It is a different world of anxiety and uncertainty than the world of hope and expectation I grew up in. Anxiety and uncertainty for people in their mid-life as I am, and for young people as well. The hope of good times often seems out of reach. The hope of even breaking even seems to be far away from many.

Some of this we’ve brought on ourselves, by allowing ourselves to be sucked into the electronic world that creates false peace and covers needs temporarily. The problem is that the world then hits hard and seems worse. We’ve become like the drug attics of old who are looking for an escape only to fall harder each time.

Much of what has happened has been far beyond the control of most of us. The world we thought was creating a better place, has actually been creating an enslaving process of debt and entanglement. The big banks and ultra-rich have enslaved us through debt, advertising, and the disillusionment of entertainment.

It’s a Different World, But Hold to the Hope that Lasts

I’ve learned, especially as I am reevaluating everything that although I’m in a different world than I ever imagined or dreamed I still follow the true hope of Christ. Christ never said this world would be easy, but He did promise to be with us.

I have no idea when our own journey will start to get us back to being able to afford a place of our own. I don’t know if our finances will ever overcome the burden of debt from education and trying to live this past couple of years.

What I do know is God somehow will see us through. I can hope and pray that it will be a different world of blessings soon. And, I know that at least I have that a different world of eternity in the presence of God is always before me.

I hope you are blessed today on your journey,

Dan