But for the Love of Christ

   I would like to tell you about Wendy. It won’t take long and you could find the lessons invaluable. I certainly did.

   At the time, Wendy had a car that was nine years old and had done over 175,000 miles. It was in excellent condition, having been faithfully serviced every five thousand miles. It looked good, ran well and Wendy wouldn’t have changed it for the world. It carried a lot of memories with it wherever they went.

   One day, a high school friend with whom Wendy had kept in close touch, called from overseas to say he was returning home for an important meeting. He asked what the chances were of their getting together for old time’s sake. Wendy said she’d be delighted to make time for an old friend. On hearing where the meeting was to be held, Wendy offered to take the day off work and drive her friend to his appointment. It was then he asked her what car she had.

   Wendy explained enthusiastically about her much loved car and hoped her friend would see at once why it held such appeal for her. But her friend replied that, in view of the importance of the meeting he had to attend, and the prestigious address of the private house in which it was to be held, perhaps Wendy’s car was not the most appropriate in which to arrive. How would she feel about taking him to a nearby five star hotel from where he would hire a car for himself? Wendy said that would be fine and that is what they decided to do.

   The conversation over, Wendy went for a long walk, debating within herself whether she wasn’t perhaps guilty of clinging to the past, her car being a case in point. She had never thought this way before but now she began to have doubts.

   Wendy decided she liked her car and her job, most especially the people with whom she worked, far too much to want to make a change in either case, although she acknowledged to herself that she had been with the same company a number of years.

   A long time ago, Wendy had been advised that, if she couldn’t enrich the job she then had, she could always enrich her life outside it if, for whatever reason, she didn’t want to change. Having been educated to degree standard but not really having had the opportunity to work at that level, had she, for example, considered studying for a Masters’ Degree?

   The very idea had electrified her but for one reason or another her attempts to apply herself to such a course of study had come to naught. Now, however, was the time for renewed action: a throwaway remark from a friend which at first had been a disappointment to her, would become a turning point in her life.

   No sooner said than done and Wendy found herself reading deep into the night about the fascinating world of economics. From there it was but a step to learning about investing, a subject that gripped her from the start.

   Shortly before graduation, Wendy made her first small investment in the field of real estate: now there was no holding her back. Over the years she built up an impressive portfolio and ere long was earning very substantially more from it than from her work. Wendy was rich and well on her way to becoming wealthy.

   At one of the many investment conferences and seminars Wendy regularly attended she met her Mr. Right. No longer in the first flush of youth, she didn’t want to lose him even though he was not of her faith which, up to then, had meant so much to her.

   Slowly, without realizing it, Wendy began to believe her fiancé when he congratulated her most warmly, and it must be said, sincerely, on the success she had made of her life. It was no longer her first thought, as once it had been, to put God first in her life, thanking Him for the manifold blessings and infinite mercies He had bestowed upon her. Perhaps there was truth in the saying that love is blind.

   Discussing the wording of a prenuptial agreement with her accountant, she was astounded to hear him say there was really very little left of her fortune following turmoil in certain property markets. He was most surprised to hear she did not know of these developments. In essence, he said, she had three choices: remain invested and risk losing everything; liquidate her holdings and get out with whatever she could before the situation got even worse, or diversify her holdings in order to spread her risk. He appreciated the last option flew in the face of her oft quoted aversion to diversification in favor of focus.

   Driving home, Wendy turned on the radio for comfort and found herself listening to the voice of a well-known pastor and broadcaster. He was telling the story of King David who had sinned grievously in the eyes of the Lord. Confronted with his wrongdoing by the prophet Gad, he was told God had given him three choices: three years of famine; three years of running away from his enemies, or three days of plague in the land. David chose to fall into the hands of the Lord, causing a plague on Israel from which 70,000 people died.

   It was then Wendy recalled something she had heard long ago in Sunday school: it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of a living God…but for the love of Christ.

For further reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:18; Colossians 3:15; Psalms 140:13; 2 Samuel 24:11-15; 1 Chronicles 21:9-14; Hebrews 10:31