Sitting Under the Kudzu Vine

14July2008

A Meditation on $4.00 Per Gallon Gas

Posted by Randy Davis under: Culture; Humor.

There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood,  A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, A  false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.–Proverbs 6:16-19

Over the weekend I saw a Congresswoman from Georgia sharing her ideas about the current high prices of oil.  For some reason she wanted to open up the strategic oil reserves, says it will lower the price of gas by a few cents.  She has a woefully weak understanding of the problem, though, I am not sure anyone can fully explain what is going on.  When the interviewer pointed out that it would not make much of a difference, she replied, “that’s just an excuse.”  I could not out what it was an excuse for.

Another one of her comments caught my attention.  She said that in Georgia, people were leaving their SUVs on the side of the road, just walking away, because they could not afford the price of gas.  I find this hard to believe.  Georgia has a lot of prosperity as far as I can tell.  Isn’t Atlanta, the home of CNN, supposed the to be the Paris of the south?   I wonder if we drove the highways of Georgia, would we really see SUVs abandoned on the side of the road?

This weekend my wife and I got away for a few days.  We traveled across south Louisiana and south Mississippi to costal southern Alabama, not that far from Georgia.  These are not areas known for their extreme wealth.  Yet, I did not see one SUV abandoned by the side of the road.  No one came up to me and said, “ hey buddy, can you lend me a gallon of gas?”  It was quite the opposite.  It was bumper to bumper traffic all the way to Mobile.  I drove a leisurely 70 MPH (at which my Buick Lucerne will get 30 miles per gallon) while the rest of the traffic blew past me like I was sitting still.  If people were hurting because of high gas prices, they did not show it on I-10.  Instead, they were going as fast as they could so they could spend their money at the Tanger Mall in Foley, Alabama or roast to a crisp at Gulf Shores.

Now, are people happy to be paying $4.00 a gallon for gas?  Of course not.  But wouldn’t it be nice if politicians were a little more in touch with the people and not lie about the situation?  Ands wouldn’t it be nice to see some real action like drilling for oil instead of trying to use up Strategic reserves which are “reserved” for true emergencies?  Instead, we have whining about the oil companies making a profit (which is what oil companies do), the demand to open the strategic reserves and some in congress have suggested that we should nationalize our oil companies.  I think they are jealous of Hugo Chavez.  Think about the highly efficient ways of our federal government over the last fifty years, do we really want them to run the oil business?

But just in case the government decides to take over Exxon-Mobil, it might be time to invest in a highly fuel efficient mule and wagon.  It will probably be more reliable.

5July2008

The Spirituality of Food

Posted by Randy Davis under: Christian Life; Christian Spirituality; Church; Creativity; Culture; Humor; Music.

Jim Chester is a friend of mine.  It takes a lot of guts to admit that.  In this video Jim addresses a deep spiritual problem that is common among Baptists and other  denominations whose origins are in the rural south.

Please leave your complaints at http://www.jimchester.com/

27June2008

Caution: Hypocrite Present

Posted by Randy Davis under: Christian Life; Christian Spirituality; Church; Creativity; Culture; Pastoral Ministry; Preaching; Repentance; Theology.

The Church is full of hypocrites.  That is the accusation made today against the church.  It fact, it is supposed to be a major reason why people do not attend church.  But it is not a new one.  I know some think that they just discovered this truth.  But, as Solomon said, there is nothing new under the sun.  There have always been hypocrites in church.

Now, there.  It has been said.  What next?  There are hypocrites in church, what are you going to do about it?  Well, not more that we already do.  Maybe we need to understand why there are hypocrites in church.

The word  hypocrite  comes from the Greek ὑποκριτής (hupokrites) which means to be an actor.  Merriam-Webster says that a hypocrite is “one who puts on the false virtue of religion.”  So strictly speaking, a hypocrite is one who pretends to have religion or be more specific, to be a Christian.

I think it is safe to say that there are some people who attend church who are pretending.  It is a sad thought but I believe there is quite a number of people who pretend to follow Christ and do not.  But this is a minority of people.  It is very similar to the rest of society.  You will always have someone pretending to be what he is not.

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