Fifteen dollars an hour

I've been arguing against raising minimum wage in Illinois for weeks. I've tried again and again to explain that this measure would be no more helpful than printing money to pay off national debts. I tried to explain it from all angles... and while it seems like most people understand and agree, nothing slowed down our governor's rush to sign the bill.

When I got the notification today that the news station was going live to watch the bill being signed in that moment, my heart sunk. For a split second, I even felt a little sick.

Then I heard it... that still small voice inside myself.  

"Why are you upset? Who is your provider? Do you think He didn't know this was going to happen? Do you think God is sitting there with His head in His hands trying to figure out what to do now that Pritzker ruined His plans to not only provide for you, but to prosper you?" 

Of course not!

I keep trying to imagine that and laugh. In fact, if God had made me an artist instead of a writer, that's the picture I'd be drawing for people right now... A Mosaic-Charlton Heston-looking-God, sitting on a big white and gray marble throne with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. And a caption that reads, "Dang it Pritzger… NOW what am I going to do!?!"

(I can't draw a straight line with a ruler... so I grabbed 

this Facepalming Jesus from the internet... 

because it makes me laugh just as much.)

It is silly, isn't it... the way we get so caught up in ourselves, forgetting what God has promised us? Forgetting who He is and who He says we are?

Don't get me wrong here... I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know if people will pay the rates I'll have to charge in the future. I don't know if my businesses will succeed or fail. 

There are a lot of things I don't know.

I do know that I will be okay, despite the fears that often overtake me. I do know God has promised to take care of me, regardless of what's going on in the world. I do know that sometimes even I'm surprised by how He does it, and that it often turns into an encouraging story of faith that I can share with others.

So, I'm going to thank God for all He has done and all He will do... and stop complaining about how this will impact small businesses, including mine. 

The time to fight to keep it from happening has passed. Now I'll shine on in spite of it.

Light shines in the darkness, and the 

darkness has not (and can not) overcome it.

John 1:5

For I know the plans I have for you
declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you 
and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 
Jeremiah 29:11