Isaiah 8: Doom and Gloom? Throughout history, nations rise and fall but Jehovah’s perfect plan is constant. When things are going well and my nation is at peace, life starts to get comfortable. My human nature turns me away from God and makes me think I’m doing this by myself. Many in Judah and Isreal turned away from God and did not believe the prophecies of Isaiah. But after these prophecies came true and the Assyrians came and the Babylonians came, God’s people would then remember the words of Isaiah. During the extremely difficult life of being captive or being attacked is when we turn to God for help. God uses these events to discipline his people. I’m convinced America also will come to its end, and perhaps fairly soon. Maybe attacked by another nation. Maybe it’ll implode from within by a civil war. And not just America but any nation today. The whole world is fragile. There’s plenty of conspiracies out there but as Isaiah says in verses 12 & 13, “do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But Jehovah of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.” Why waste my time and energy trying to predict the future and be ahead of others with understanding of the political events throughout the world. So I can invest money better? So I can prove to others how smart and in-the-times I am? I must simply wait for Jehovah and put my hope in him. Of course, not wandering through life aimlessly and idly, but focusing on important efforts. Serving others, raising my family in God’s word, and working diligently at the work God gave me to do. Those who turn to their own understanding “will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.” Lord, let your face shine upon me and be gracious to me. Lift up your countenance upon me and give me peace.

Isaiah 7: Where do I turn? When I am in fear or trouble, where do I turn? Having an engineering mindset, I typically buckle down, learn, and formulate my own solutions. Or I think how I could avoid the problem all together and deal with it a later day. I actually have a pretty high risk tolerance for being an engineer. Over and over again, the kings of Judah turn to their own understanding to their and their nation’s demise. Each time they turn to God in prayer and ask the prophets what God’s will is, God answers them. After turning to God, the struggles and hardships I face are merely smoldering stubs of firewood in the grand scheme of things. These struggles are temporary compared to eternity. “But God doesn’t answer my prayers,” I complain. He doesn’t talk through prophets like he used to. After 10 minutes of reading the Word, I realize He does talk back. Christ is the sign from God – “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” How much more of a sign do I need to believe and trust in Him? What more could God do to make this so obvious for me? In retrospect, seeing the kings of Judah ignoring God makes me cringe because the answers and solutions are so obvious. As I reflect on my own past, I realize how my decisions did not include first turning to God in prayer. “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.”

Starting my plan to move to a small farm to grow vegetables and animals. Found a few good books but let me know if you have any recommendations. Videos welcomed too. Midwest US and a little over10 acres. Has a little 2 acre pond on it too. I'm pretty excited but have to stay realistic and ease into it. Can't give up my fiat job... Not yet at least!

The idea of time preference comes up a lot on Bitcoin conversations. But still feel like it's under stated. Maybe it's a personality trait specific to individuals, but to be able to store money in one spot without having to worry about it's future is such a rewarding and liberating mindset. I only want to spend what i need and save the rest for various opportunities or emergencies that inevitably come up in the future. Prior Bitcoin conviction, i had dozens of investment. Every month or sooner i would evaluate and stress over how to best diversify. Digging through company financials. Trying to come up with stock screeners and complicated Excel automated tools. No matter what direction i took, i had this gut feeling i was being ripped off or making a genuine bad decision. After years of researching and learning about Bitcoin, I gained full conviction of it's value. I still read the news every day and try to find anything to disprove my conviction. With each day of failed arguments against Bitcoin, my energy continues to increase on more important things like my family, community, what i eat, exercise, and most of all, devotion to my God. Having money stored away for future uses when i need it is life changing. It's always there. It's ever growing. I think a lot about what business i could start when it grows 10x in a few years. Or who i could help if i have more money than what i need. I'm becoming less of a slave to fiat and more of a contributor to society and specifically my local community.