Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

By the time you read this my son Jacob and I are en route to Decatur, AL to pick up a scooter from my friend Dr. Rob Jackson, pastor of Central Baptist, Decatur, AL.  Rob has been one of my very best friends since our Samford Days.  He used to haze me in our frat (he is a year older than me) but then became one of the closest friends. I owe him and his wife Tonya a ton since they were instrumental in me asking Cassandra out for a date.  Cassandra has been friends from high school.  Cassandra and Tonya had no idea they were marrying ministers since neither Rob or me were in the ministry when we got married.  Maybe that is “bait-and-switch.” 

Anyway, I guess I will be losing my man card today.  But I’ll be saving hundreds of dollars on gas!  Thanks Rob!

It takes a real man to take charge of your finances. Go ahead and rip, I’m man enough!

The other day my good friend Rob from college called and we talked about life, family, church, Bama football, etc…  Then I told him I was thinking of buying a Scooter because gas has gone up to $3.79 a gallon.  Little did I know that he has a Honda Scooter sitting in his garage not being used.  It only has 200 miles on it and gets 120 miles to the gallon.  He has a motorcycle himself so he doesn’t use it.  He said I was welcome to use it if I went to North Alabama to pick it up.

So here is my dilemma, do I spend the gas money going to get an almost new Honda Scooter and drive it back to Charlotte?  My office is less than 4 miles from my home so I could probably go to work for a month for less than $10.  If I had to use my car, I’m close enough to drive back and get it.  Will driving a Scooter make me turn in my “man card?”  Or am I just being wise with God’s resources?  

What do you think? 

[WSB TV]

So much for spaghetti suppers: The First Baptist Church of Snellville is fueling its membership drive with a sign in front of its sprawling campus proclaiming “Free Gasoline.” 

There’s a catch, of course. The offer is a not a giveaway. Instead, each time newcomers or members attend a church event during a Sunday-to-Wednesday revival they get a pink raffle ticket for a chance to win one of two $500 gas cards. 

“We don’t know how far it will go with these soaring prices,” said Rusty Newman, the church’s senior pastor. “But it may make someone’s night.”

Read more here.

[From me]

I’ve been involved in Gas “buy downs” where we would take off $.50 off of every gallon that people filled up at the gas station.  However, there was no catch.  We did it to show the love of Jesus in a practical way.  I’m not criticizing 1st Snellville because they have always been a good church.  I’m sure their motives are to reach people for Jesus.  However, this is the actual headline I read from fark.com where I found this article:

Georgia church tries to attract new members with a $500 gas giveaway. Most are not willing to sit through boring service for less than a tankful

I’m just curious what kind of message this sends?  

What do you think?