Town Hall for Hope

by Don Harkey

“Hope doesn’t come from Washington; real hope comes from the nail-scarred hands.”

—Dave Ramsey

Last night, I helped to facilitate a webcast of the "Town Hall for Hope" by Dave Ramsey. Over 6000 locations around the country participated in the webcast last night and the count is still coming in on the number of participants.

Dave's message was simple and a few key points have stuck with me. The main point I think was that WE are responsible for our future. That means I am responsible for my future and YOU are responsible for your future. A couple of Dave's better quotes included (paraphrasing now) "if a bird falls out of its nest, it better start flapping its wings" and "fear pushes us to excellence because it chases us".

Looking at the economy like a car accident is an interesting analogy that Dave used last night. Some of us have walked away unscathed, some of us are a little sore, some of us broke a bone and others of us are in a coma. Regardless of where you stand, the only thing you can control is the actions that YOU take. If you have lost your job, my prayers are with you. Now is the time to get yourself back on your feet and go out there and find something else. It's not easy. It's not supposed to be because the final results of our actions are not what life is about. Life is about our actions.

Dave suggests 3 Courses of action (outlined at www.townhallforhope.com):

1) Get Up and Take Action - Don't huddle up and wait til the storm passes. Innovate, educate, and inspire yourself and others to action. Many of the greatest opportunities have grown out of difficult times.

2) Stop Listen to Loser Talk - Turn off the news. Stop hanging around with doomsday people. Hang around and listen to people who are innovating and working hard for their future. There are many, many, many of them out there!

3) Start Giving - Give your time, treasure, and talents. If you don't have money right now, donate your time. Help others around you. We will have more impact on each other than the government is capable of doing.

Regardless of your political views, the point here should be universal. God placed us on this planet with a unique set of gifts. We have all been given the gift to choose how to act and therefore determine our outlook on life. There will be challenges along the way, but we have the power to live our lives or have our lives happen to us.

I choose to not participate in the recession! If you agree - please comment below.