How are you investors doing after today's killing on Wall St.?  I was sitting on my porch this evening and felt compelled to write you a little note of encouragement:

It may be a tough time, but I want to encourage you to not give in to fear.  Hey, it's just money.  It's not your family and it's not anything that will last.  Remember what Jesus told his disciples, "Not a hair of your head will be lost. Your perseverance will win you your lives" (Luke 21:18-19). It may be a bear market, but it can be a bull market on your spirituality.

There was a time when I was 24 and had made an investment that did extraordinarily well for a while.  But then it turned around and I lost as much as $10,000 in a day. I had taken stupid risks - I'd gone on the margin to buy stocks. Eventually I was subjected to a margin call. I was so distraught.

And God led me to this passage in 1 Timothy 6:6-10: "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."

It changed my life. I'd had my focus on the things of this world instead of his kingdom and his righteousness.  And if you're there, this would be a good time to do what I did - repent and ask him to show you what to do.  It may be to sell and take your losses but retain your peace.  Or it may be to hang on.

I love what Nouwen says: "We can only survive our world when we trust that God knows us more intimately than we know ourselves. We can only keep it together when we believe that God holds us together. We can only win our lives when we remain faithful to the truth that every little part of us, yes, every hair, is completely safe in the divine embrace of our Lord. To say it differently: When we keep living a spiritual life, we have nothing to be afraid of."