RECONSTRUCTION

1866 was really a terrible time for Texas. The horrors of the Civil War had dropped the male population to a mere 30% in most areas of the state, including Ft Worth. Now the even darker time of reconstruction would move upon the Lone Star as Northern fortune hunters who held terrible grudges against Texans began to govern positions of authority on every level. Texans were famous for being on the front lines and even if it wasn’t true, it was true that Texans had bragged about it.

In the war between the states, every one had lost loved ones –especially the carpet baggers moving down here to govern our state. They didn’t come with good attitudes or plans of mercy. Their harsh and unjust treatment caused another hundred years of hatred between the north and the south.

President Lincoln was dead. Over 200,000 Americans were dead. The slaves were set free but only to wander and beg without a place to go and without anyone to help them. Our great southern cities had been burnt down. Farms in Texas were left to be run by widows and children while Indians, roaming Confederates and bands of outlaws pillaged and preyed on the weak. It was a mess. A hard and terrible mess.

So if you were living on this side of the world in the late 1860’s you were someone well acquainted with grief, instability, hardship and turbulent times. Who in the world could prosper in a world so messed up? I’m glad you asked - lots of people.

Living In an Opposite Spirit

While the states were hell-bent on being split to pieces, there were people who had a vision for uniting. Those people prospered and did things that still affect us greatly today.

Have you ever considered that it was during these turbulent times the Suez Canal was constructed, or the finishing of the great continental railroad and the transatlantic telegraph cable? Can you imagine what a big deal it was to connect the Mediterranean with the Red Sea or the east coast with west coast? Try and wrap your head around what a big deal it was to stretch a communication cable all the way across the oceans floor to Great Britain with the technology of 1866.

Most of us suffered in darkness and depression during that time but there were a few people who decided it was the perfect time to go to places no one had ever gone before, and ended up taking all the rest of us with them. They were visionaries, leaders and builders who not only got up but did something great while in a great big mess. They answered chaos with stability and terrible disappointment with incredible vision.

Why Sit Here and Die?

In 2^nd Kings, chapter 7 there is an amazing story about four guys with leprosy. They didn’t ask for this hideous disease but it was what life had handed them. Sitting out in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no hope, one of them had a moment of clarity. “Why should we sit here until we die?” Against all reason and in spite of the facts of their situation, all four of them gathered the courage to get up and face life one more time. The story that follows, details God’s supernatural response to people who answer darkness with life and despair with great courage. He’s cool like that.

This week’s confession from a highly caffeinated Christians comes freshly brewed with a triple shot of encouragement. While you might have many good reasons for not living life to the fullest, I double-dog-dare-you to find at least one good reason why you should try again. The grace of God gives all of us an opportunity to live life in a totally opposite spirit than how things seem to be going. Listen to your leprosy friend and ask yourself, why should I sit here until I die? Better yet, listen to the Lord, speak to your heart and whisper more life than you can possibly comprehend.

Yet man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward. “But as for me, I would seek God,

And to God I would commit my cause who does great things, and unsearchable,

Marvelous things without number.” JOB 5:7-9

Contact the Brewer at www.OpenDoorMinistries.org