KICKING THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD
by: Allen Domelle
By the time this article is published, the automatic budget cuts called the sequester will either have gone into affect or Congress and the President will have reached a late-night agreement. The dirty little secret about the sequester is not that they will be spending less money, but that they won’t be able to spend as much money as they wanted. In my opinion that wouldn’t be bad. Instead of laying people off, they should simply tell each department to cut spending in areas where it isn’t necessary, but that is not what this government is interested in.
However, there is another deadline looming that the news hasn’t even began to cover, and that is the continuing resolution that funds the government happens at the end of March. This is a far greater problem than the sequester because that is when the government completely runs out of money. In other words, they will have to shut the government down. You would think this would be a priority, but apparently it is not. As far we know there have been no talks yet about settling this budget crisis.
The handling of these problems has been a travesty. Instead of being solution oriented and settling the financial crisis by coming up with a budget that cuts spending and ends needless entitlements, the Congress and the President have chosen to continually kick the can down the road. The lack of leadership is atrocious. You can only kick the can down the road for so long until it finally comes back to bite you.
There is a great lesson we can all learn from the mishandling of these problems. The lesson is that you should be a solutions oriented person who handles your problems at hand instead of kicking the can down the road. James 4:15-16 says, “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” God’s command is to take care of situations now because you don’t know what tomorrow holds. You can kick the can down the road, but you still have the problem and will have to deal with it eventually. Our government officials have foolishly kicked the can down the road, and one day they will have kicked the can one too many times. Leadership shouldn’t put off until tomorrow, but leadership should be solutions oriented and settle today’s problems today.
Let me take this thought into the personal realm. You can kick the can down the road with your marital problems, or you can become solution oriented and settle them today. Marital problems will not get better by ignoring them. In fact, they will only get worse if you kick them down the road. Whenever you have marital problems, decide to find the solution to your problems.
Moreover, pastors must be careful about continually kicking the can down the road. I have seen many pastors make the mistake of thinking a problem will go away. In my experience, the problem may go away for the present, but it will come back. The bad part is that when it comes back it will be bigger. A pastor should be a person who is solution oriented and find the solution to the problem instead of kicking the can down the road.
Furthermore, be careful that you don’t kick the can down the road with your finances. Friend, the best thing you can do is find the solution to your financial problems today. Putting off financial woes will not make them better. You are going to have to face your financial problems someday, so now is the best time to find the solution to your financial problems.
You always have a choice when problems come. You can either kick the can down the road, or you can become solution oriented and solve the problem. Yes, most of the time facing the problem is very uncomfortable and places much pressure on you, but in the end it is better to face your problems now than to face them when you are in dire straights. I challenge you not to be like our government officials who kick the can down the road, but to become a solutions oriented person who handles problems head on when they come. You will find this is the best way to keep your life from becoming continually stressful.
Allen Domelle is the editor of the Old Paths Journal which is more than just a Christian’s publication. It is an excellent place to learn how today’s headlines will forge tomorrow’s laws and statutes. Keep yourself in tune with what is happening around the world, as well as in your own backyard with our daily updates and devotionals.