Check On Your Frog

Forever rely on God.

Fifty years ago I expected that the United States would be a dictatorship within five to ten years. Others’ reliance on God prevented that. I am still waiting. Having seen governments and political systems overthrown for a variety of selfish excuses over the millennia, I have no great hope that America will turn out any different.

That is my experience of relying on humans to do what is in their worst interests. Reliance on God puts selfish interests last.

I expect between 75–100,000,00 people to be dead of Covid within the first three to five years of the epidemic’s inception in 2019. It is my reliance on exhibited human behaviors that leads me to these numbers, not reliance on God. In spite of the largely incorrect and wishful numbers put out by WHO and others, I am certain that my forecasting is, all too sadly, correct. It’s what comes from decades of forecasting.

Advertisers tell us we can rely on the car brands they’re selling. We can rely on this realtor, that school to get our kids and grandkids the right jobs and social status, the right supermarkets, and clubs to join.

I don’t own a fancy foreign car. Never have. I want something dependable that any mechanic can fix. My experience with realtors is that some are good people, some are not. Same as any other business. Whatever school anybody else goes to is their choice. Where I wanted to go to college when I was sixteen was not where I ended up at seventeen. My best suggestion has always been to get all of the information and then make your best decision. It is always okay to change your mind.

Where was God when I was a kid and my family belonged to country clubs? The angels had a great time playing on golf fairways. I despised how golf aggravated the arthritis throughout my body. One of the best times I had at a country club was when I was invited as a plus one to a business wedding. The reception was in a wealthy and exclusive country club. Several of us from my old job were sitting at one of the tables waiting for the meal to begin. One of the women remarked on the beauty of the room, the gold-rimmed china and heavy silver place settings and centerpieces.

Without thinking, I said it reminded me of the clubs in which I had been raised. Other than the woman I accompanied, I had eight stricken faces looking at me. My former coworkers had only known me as this guy with the funny Midwestern accent who behaved all wrong and wore the wrong clothes. The hick.

Right then I heard three things. God’s booming laugh. My friend’s snicker. And a part of my brain that told me I had upset the locals again.

I relied on God to get me through the rest of that encounter, like It has so many others. There were the usual questions. The surprise at learning my background after knowing me a decade or more. The feeling that I had really messed up by letting the cat out of the bag.

Darn that cat!

Also, the reassurance in knowing that I had relied on my God. Yes, I had always intended to keep my private life just that. Private. But I had help walking through what might have been a difficult situation.

Many years later I just laugh off such things. My experience is that once we have retired from active business life, the world is much less interested in who we are.

The flip side of life is that I am no longer hustling for worthiness. I relied on humans rather than God to tell me what they thought to be my worth. Part of working in the business world is that no matter who we are, we are constant hustling to perform. For approval. We pretend all of that has changed with the large numbers of people working outside of offices and switching jobs since the Covid epidemic began. The reality is that people continue to hustle.

Maybe not in the same work environment. Or around the same coworkers or clients as a few years ago. But men and women continue to strive for approval from each other.

If you listen to the sound of the frog in your life, what happens?

I’ve been asked if people who are of one religion or another or none at all can have guardian angels. Not only can they, but they do. One per person for our entire lifetime. Which is all we need. With countless helper and teacher angels for every situation. All of the angels relying on God to help them help us.

Just like the angels, we get to rely on our God.

Regardless of our expectations of ourselves or others, reliance on God sets us on the right track.

Always.