What do you do when everything you trusted in collapses? How do you prepare for a sudden change in life? How do you recover when life hits you on your blind side? After a lifetime of hard work, dedication, commitment, and loyalty to a chosen career, how do you suddenly change your vocation and skill sets? What do you do when a lifelong dream and investment is suddenly taken from you through no fault of your own? How do you bounce back after institutions that were expected to protect you suddenly pull the rug out from under your life? What do you say to your family when you face the reality that you may no longer be able to fulfill their expectations for security, support, and provision?

Where do you go when you want to work but there are no jobs? What do you do when your sense of pride for personal accomplishment is dashed in the fires of survival? How do you go on after the legacy of years of work is erased by a pink slip from the company you helped build? How do you face the family you once left to find your fortune and chase your dreams and ask them to take you back in because your world has evaporated? Where do you go when the ones you go to for help are also in need of help?

All the above questions are actual situations I have encountered in counseling hundreds of individuals who have fallen on difficult times in their lives. Though each situation was unique, one common factor linked them all: every trying situation was initiated by what we call a crisis.

Each one of us will face some type of crisis. We all encounter situations over which we have no personal control, which we did not expect or could not prevent. Many of us, perhaps, are still trying to recover from a broken marriage, the stillbirth of a child, the unexpected death of a spouse, child, or loved one. Maybe you lost your dream house, your dream car, your baby, or your business. Whatever your situation, these are all categorized as crises.

Living on earth requires that we must expect the unexpected and prepare for the unforeseen. It’s the nature of life. But many of us do not possess the necessary mental, emotional, psychological, and spiritual tools to successfully and effectively weather

these seasons of turmoil. If this is your state, then this book is for you or for a loved one who needs to know that there is life after crisis.

Introduction

The world is in crisis. However, in the past there was no such concept as “global crisis.” Globalization is a modern term that describes the collapse of the many barriers between nations such as distance, culture, trade tariffs, and access to global communication. This new international phenomenon began with the advent of modern travel, increased with the invention of radio, television, and telephone technology, and then exploded with the emergence of computer and cyberspace technology. These inventions have forever changed life on planet Earth as we know it, impacting the movement of people, international trade and commerce, immigration and migration, cultural interaction, and political collaboration. The most important result of this global transformation is the interdependence of nations. The reality of this new age is the fact that the circumstances, events, or major changes in the social, political, economic, and cultural environments of one nation affect the environment of many other nations and communities.

At the writing of this manuscript, the world has entered into one of the most critical international crises of our generation. Every news broadcast gives us more information about the latest financial downturn or collapse. Everybody is affected in some way, even the wealthiest people. Nobody can stop it.

Suddenly, every country in the world has entered into a recession—or worse. Unemployment rates are soaring. Homeowners are facing foreclosure. Businesses are facing bankruptcy and liquidation.

The economy of my country, the Bahamas, depends heavily on tourism. Guess what will get slashed first from people’s budgets when money gets tight? Ninety percent of our jobs in the Bahamas are built around tourism, and that means our entire economy gets rocked when the stream of tourists becomes a trickle because of an economic recession/depression. (Ironically, Cuba used to be the number one tourist destination in our region before the Cuban government turned socialist during the prolonged crisis of the Great Depression—which means that it was an economic downturn that allowed for our success as an alternative island vacation spot.)

Meantime, ongoing wars and rumors of wars are decimating cities and nations, adding to the “normal” level of crime and human degradation across the globe. On videotapes and in photographs, the faces of anguished refugees appear so often that most people have become used to seeing them. In the past, we hardly ever talked about terrorists, but now you can hear that word every day of the week.

Completely beyond our control, natural forces also threaten human welfare. At any given time, something is happening somewhere in the world: hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes, earthquakes, mudslides, tsunamis, droughts, floods, famines. The list goes on and on. People are always in some kind of a crisis.

We are vulnerable. We are very fragile. As the world’s economies are imploding, fear is exploding. Fear is defined as a lack of confidence, and fear itself feeds the recession. When consumers lose confidence in the system, they stop participating in it. They stop buying things. Consumer confidence is vital for the success of the capitalist economies that most of us live in because everything in a capitalist economy is built on people’s buying and selling. When buyers stop buying, the sellers have to stop selling. Incomes dwindle and accumulated wealth does too. The fear itself does not dwindle, though. It grows.

Crisis is not too strong a word for what is happening. We are walking through a worldwide crisis, and most of us are (or soon will be) walking through significant personal crises as well. Many of our personal crises will be related to the broader crisis. If you have a job, you may lose it. If you own a business, you may have to pull back and find new strategies for making it through this difficult season. If you are a pastor or a missionary, you may find yourself short of funds as people can no longer contribute money to your ministry.

On top of that, surely you will have your ordinary level of difficulties to deal with. You may have health problems, marital problems, family problems. Sometimes, if you stack a financial disaster on top of your existing problems, it’s just too much. You will be in high-alert crisis mode before you know what happened to you.

The purpose of this book is not to frighten you, nor is it to report breaking news, nor is it to bemoan the wretched state of the world. The purpose of this book is to give you some practical advice.

I didn’t think it up. I’m just the messenger for the One who has the answers to every catastrophe. When even the experts don’t know what to do, it is time to hook up with Someone who is smarter than all the experts put together. When you need to overcome a crisis, it is time to look to the Overcomer.

You must understand that the Kingdom of God is never in crisis. Let that sink in. The Kingdom is never in crisis mode because the King is bigger than any crisis that has ever happened, will ever happen, or is happening right now. He knows what to do.

Not only does He know what to do, but also He cares for us, both individually and corporately. He loves people. And God has never failed His people yet. The important thing is to make sure that you are one of His people.

This book is about how to make sure that you are walking according to His principles as a citizen of His Kingdom. It will help you hold up a measuring rod to your current situation, and it will show you how to measure up to His righteous standards so that you, too, can overcome every crisis. Then you can turn to help your neighbor on the way. If you claim citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven, you have a way out of every crisis.

Notice that I did not promise you a crisis-free life. No, I promise you a way out, a way to overcome each crisis, whether big or small. Nobody is exempt from crises, including Christians. You will have crises. Jesus said, “…In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

What is your crisis right now? As you allow Him to convert your crisis into an opportunity for growth and grace, you will be able to bring a little more of the Kingdom of Heaven to this disillusioned, worn-out world.

CHAPTER 1
Global Crisis, Personal Crisis

Seeds of faith are always within us; sometimes it takes a crisis to nourish and encourage their growth.
—Susan Taylor

What constitutes a “crisis”? How bad does a situation have to be? What kind of crises have you been through in your life? What kind of crisis are you in right now?

It is true that what can seem like a crisis to one person is not a crisis to someone else. Yet for everyone, a crisis is an event over which one has no control. Crises are experiences that you did not anticipate or prepare for. They take you by surprise, and they fill you with anxiety.

Let’s say the weather forecast says that a hurricane is coming. Here in the Bahamas, we know that could be serious. We know that when hurricanes hit, they don’t mess around. Suddenly your priorities are different. If you were planning to go visit your friend, you change your plan. If you have a family, you try to make sure they will be safe. You do whatever you have to do to get ready for the storm before it hits your neighborhood.

Or say the doctor says, “You’ve got three weeks to live if you don’t change your habits.” He is not joking. All of a sudden, you get motivated to change. This is a crisis. You may not be able to avoid all of the consequences of your eating habits, your smoking, or whatever, but you will probably clean up your act. You will stop eating cheesecake and macaroni salad on the s