If you feed your fears, your faith will starve. If you feed your faith, your fears will starve.

Does anyone remember Y2K?? I sure do, as my dad was running 3 different banks at the time, and just in my conversations with him while I was in vet school, I recall the somewhat fear he had from the coming end of the world from the media advertised worldwide computer crisis. My dad worked in a corporate bank at the time, and I am certain, given my knowledge of how corporates work, they had blown the coming Y2K into mass oblivion. Dave Ramsey was discussing this mass hysteria time frame of Y2K, many of you given your age don’t recall, recently. People in December of 1999 were in full-on panic mode as it was thought that the software of all computers would crash because they weren’t going to be able to roll past 12-31-99 to 1-1-00. The media was blowing up the end of the world from the computers crashing and people were buying up bottled water, generators, food, in full on expectation of the end of the world. I don’t recall if TP was out, but sure may have been! 😉 I remember that New Year’s because I remember my dad having to be down at the bank that night as the clock struck midnight to see what would happen. Remember, it was going to be the end of the world! Computers crashing, power grids were going to crash, food would run out, and the world as we knew it was going to never be the same! So………….the clock struck twelve…….at the bank in little Lewis, KS……..and the computers remained on……never crashed, didn’t implode, and were functional on the next business day! Where are we today!? It’s like Y2K all over again! And it’s beyond the hysteria on 9-11 when over 3,000 lives were lost in one single day! Over 3.000 people died in one single day! I’m a numbers and data guy as I look at numbers every day. Actually on morbidity and mortality in cattle every single day. I haven’t researched the causes of mortality in humans, but I am much more likely to die driving to a feedyard than I am COVID-19, and you are too. I am certain there are more deaths attributable to lightning each year than there have been from coronavirus so far.

Now, I am not downplaying any aspects of the current preventative measures, as we are all looking at them, analyzing them, talking to others, and seeing what we may need to do next for further measures to prevent the spread of potential illness. But I am trying to bring perspective and rationale to the situation by analyzing prior events that created mass hysteria and pandemonium! This time may be somewhat unprecedented, but we are the greatest country in the world, and we will lead our way through this, just like we did all stock market crashes, all prior pandemics, all wars, and Y2K and 9-11! As Art Laffer says, “You don’t make good decisions when you are drunk or are in a panic.” You are more likely to die driving your car every single day and you don’t stop driving your car! Your 401-K may have lost 20% of its value, but it will come back! The greatest comebacks in the stock market have occurred every single time after the greatest crashes! So do you have faith or do you have fear? Do you have a rationale or panic? Do you have perspective or just living in the now? Quit buying up all the TP and hand sanitizer, someone else needs it worse than you! Are you being strategic or participating in the chaos? Each and every one of us needs to be rational, maintain perspective, and not participate in the chaos! And lastly, through the thoughtful planning and discussions, lean into your faith! Opening your Bible won’t solve the problem, but God is begging us to lean into him for reassurance and guidance! If you feed your fears, your faith will starve. If you feed your faith, your fears will starve. Open the greatest book of all time and lean into it! Where is your faith today? Where was it for Y2K or 9-11?