Your clunker for your life?

The Cash for Clunkers program, which debuted a mere two months ago, is over. The reason--it ran out of money. For what it was worth, Cash for Clunkers infused life back into a tepid auto industry, at least temporarily, by racking up better than expected car sales. It provided a way for those who could afford it (and for some who couldn't but did it anyway) to exchange older model, less fuel efficient cars for brand new, fuel efficient ones. There's something enticing about being able to discard something old for something new. The problem is, as soon as those new cars left the showroom floor, they were destined to become the clunkers of tomorrow at some future point in time. Cars are known to depreciate rather than appreciate in value even as the cost to buy them, depending on the make and model, continues to increase. As consumers, we seem determined to invest excessive amounts of money in things that won't last.

So what should we be investing in if not in expensive cars, opulent houses, designer clothes, expensive jewelry, priceless artifacts or gold? Economies that are based on material goods and personal wealth are fragile. Already, we have seen how some persons in this society have sought wealth and lost everything in one bad investment. Even further, countries that have suffered economic collapse have done so when conditions caused the currency of that country to become worthless. Ask yourself this question, "What is my life invested in? If you were to suddenly loose everything would you have anything left to live for? What gives your life meaning? May I suggest to you what life is not? Life is not in the abundance of the things we possess (Luke 12:15). Jesus tells the story of a rich man who had great wealth. For this man, life was all about building bigger barns to store his possessions. Finally, this man said to himself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy. Eat, drink and be merry." But God said to him, "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?"

"So it will be," Jesus says, "with anyone who stores things up for himself but is not rich toward God." Elsewhere, Jesus tells us not to store up (or put our trust in) treasure upon the earth that is subject to decay or worse, becomes the target of thieves (Matt 6:19); but rather store up (give back to God what he has given us) treasure in heaven which will not decay or be subjected to thieves. Jesus concludes that where our treasure is, our hearts (time and attention) will be also. Consider the rich fool and strive to labor for those things that will matter to God and for eternity.

Michael Vick is right

Michael Vick is right to ignore his critics who want to vilify him as if serving 23 months in a maximum security federal prison, losing his job, being forced into bankruptcy and being separated from his children weren't sufficient punishment enough for his crime. If his critics have their say, Vick will always be spoken of as "Michael Vick, convicted felon." Just recently, CNN gave valuable airtime to a panel of so-called experts who discussed whether or not Vick's statement of remorse was really genuine or rehearsed. Hypocritically, these same critics no doubt have their own dirty little secrets that fortunately for them have so far been hid from public knowledge. I agree that what Vick did to dogs was reprehensible and cruel but so were the White man's offenses against Black people in this country--crimes for which few if any of the perpetrators or their descendants have stated remorse, let alone spent even one night in prison. These crimes against the humanity of Black people are little spoken of and conveniently forgotten. A sportscaster on ESPN weighting in on the Vick debate observed: To err is human; to forgive is divine. In a similar show of support for the underdog (no pun intended), Jesus Christ once told an angry mob that wanted to stone a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone (John 8)." Not one stone was thrown by that angry mob and no one has the right to throw stones now. What's more the Bible says that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." So unless Vick's critics have confessed their own guilt before God they have no right to sit in judgement against him. On that, God has the last word.