As I talk with others working in construction, I hear a mixed bag of experiences. Many are working hard on smaller projects, running down more false starts for skittish owners and generally stressing through difficult times. On the other hand, 25% of construction workers stand in the unemployment line. It’s a time unlike any I’ve seen in 30 years.

World events seem even more discombobulated. North Korea sinks a South Korean submarine setting up the possibility of American and Chinese soldiers facing each other in the near term. Israel attacks an aid ship and further alienates themselves from the world of civil discourse. Of course, oil continues to spew from that hell hole in the Gulf that may be one of the most cataclysmic events of our lives.

With all this drama, I look to Dr Strangelove for insight. At this very moment, perhaps a checklist like the video below is being discussed:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgyjlqhiTV8

As I struggle to make sense of all these inputs, I’m reminded of some teaching I recently heard from John Ortberg. He noted that our society (meaning most of us) has become focused on “More”. We simply want more. Whatever we like, whatever we value, we want more of it.

He asks, Who is happier, the man with a billion dollars or the man with 12 children”? The answer is the man with 12 children, because he knows he doesn’t want any more. Hope you have a more relaxed day in these tense times, remember, we can’t control what happens, but we can control our response.