by Pastor Dan Baumgartner

There is a lot of unsettling news close at hand. Hurricanes ravage the Caribbean and the Gulf. A New York Times Magazine article navigates the layered complexities of hostile situations in Pakistan and Afghanistan. An increasingly nasty and polarizing presidential campaign is in process.

The people I’m around everyday are ratcheting up their political blood pressure. I hear a desperation coming from people of both camps who feel passionately that their candidate is a savior who simply must be elected in order to solve the ills of the world. I don’t feel that way actually. In the Savior department, Jesus is the only one I know. And He isn’t running for president this year. And on top of it all, the economy and financial markets are in absolute turmoil.

I sit in my Bethany office and wonder. What does one do when instability and uncertainty are everywhere? I absent-mindedly inventory the five items that adorn the round table in the middle of the room. There’s a wooden zebra there, authentically painted in black and white stripes. I remember being in Nairobi, Kenya a few years ago. The leaders of Mayatima, a group of HIV/AIDS widows and orphans who live in a slum so horrific that it defies description, presented the carved zebra to our Bethany group.

I remember a woman nearby named Pamela that we prayed for one day in a hot, tin-walled shack who died before we arrived back in the States. She had six children. I remember the way the widows of Mayatima danced and clapped and smiled to welcome us to. It wasn’t an act. How could they dance and smile in the midst of such pain and poverty?

Next to the wooden zebra is a brass candlestick holder with a purple candle. If you ever wonder where used sanctuary candles end up, my office is a good guess. Often when I meet with people- couples, leadership teams, staff- we’ll first light a candle to mark the time in prayer and invite the Holy Spirit’s presence.

Once a month my late evening Men’s Group meets in my office. Usually we pause near the end of our session, turn off the overhead fluorescent bulb, light a candle and let the flickering flame oversee our prayer time. We have prayed through career moves, illnesses, people moving halfway across the world as missionaries, relationship difficulties and business decisions. The candle bears witness to our asking God to intervene in hard places. He has in some. We still need Him to in others.

On the other side of the candleholder is a baseball. Several years ago when I was still coaching I used to cart all the gear- bats, helmets, ballbag, catcher’s equipment around in the back of our old station wagon for practice. Somehow, a single ball ended up in my office and I set it on the table so that I’d be sure to get it back out to the car. But before I could, five out of the next five people who journeyed into my office immediately picked up the ball and started massaging it, playing with it, feeling its rough seams as we talked. It seemed like that silly baseball set people more at ease, so I left it and it’s now been handled by hundreds of people as we share all sorts of things.

Next to the baseball right now is a black and white picture of my three kids that Anne took this summer up on Whidbey Island. They look so grown, two in college and one a junior in high school. Could they be my kids?! I love to look at it and to pray over them. I thank the Lord for my family every day.

Beside the picture on the table is a six inch cross made of rusty cast iron. It belongs in the middle of the room. Ever since I began to understand who Jesus was years ago, I have had to deal with exactly what happened on the cross. Scripture only fully reveals Jesus in the light of his death on that cross. Forgiveness. Sacrifice. Love.

What does one do when instability and uncertainty are everywhere? Try taking inventory. You might be reminded of people who have nothing but God. You might remember places God has showed up. You will quite possibly be overwhelmed by the gift of community and friendship. You could rediscover that stability ultimately doesn’t come from weather, war, elections or the economy. Take a long, slow inventory.