Predicting the future

When I was a wee lad, I tried to pick the ponies. I admit...not very "Christ-like". Though, I wasn't a follower of Christ then. I would get a daily delivery of the Racing Digest and at the age of 15 and 16 try to pick the horses. Then, the next day I could see how I did. I looked at trends, weather and track conditions, race lengths, etc. And, once in a while I did pretty well by picking the winning horse once or twice out of 10 or so races. It wasn't about the money (obviously since I wasn't running a horse betting ring on the sly :-). It was about trying to "control or figure out the future".

In some ways, isn't that what we try to do every day? We look at trends, surrounding conditions and then make "our picks"--do things accordingly. Here's the truth, though. There are many people saying they "predicted" this recent financial crisis. But, if that is true, wouldn't they have done something about it. Wouldn't they have already pulled their money out of the market and made it known? The world is full of arm chair quarterbacks. It was always easier for me to "pick the ponies" by looking at the next day's results. I was 10 for 10! But, in a day and age when we continue to see formerly predictable institutions (banks, financial institutions, government) and believed to be "rights" as Americans (like owning homes, having health care and insurance) crumbling around us, who or what can we trust that will lead us into the future with any degree of certainty? Who do you put YOUR trust in when everything else is crumbling around you? Let's talk more...tomorrow.