will Jesus buy me a....?

Where did April go? You tell me, because I blinked and a month went by. However, this first month back in Tennessee has been an incredibly soft landing, thanks to a family that is very dear to my heart. The Greens have given me (and my horse) a lovely place to stay while getting my feet back on the ground. I wake up every morning to rolling green pastures outside my bedroom window and wonder repeatedly if I'm in heaven already.

Thanks to my insatiable literary appetite, upon arrival here I was on the prowl for another book to measure up to the last few that I have read. I had just finished reading the first two installments of Alexander McCall Smith's enchanting series The no.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, and prior to that, a compilation of Malcolm Gladwell's articles, What the Dog Saw. (which, I very unfortunately left in New Zealand without finishing...minor life catastrophe). Luckily, I happened upon this book that was sitting in a pile on my nightstand.

Will Jesus Buy Me a Double-Wide by Karen Zacharias is a refreshing perspective on the prevalence of the "prosperity gospel" that seems to be spreading faster than wildfire in America. While the thought of this chills me to the core, this book tells the stories of Americans from every walk of life, and on either side of the issue: both those in favor of the "more is better" philosophy and those who choose to give away more than they keep. By telling the stories of others, this book will make you laugh, cry, and more importantly, take a step back and examine your own life. A worthy read.

Here are a few relevant points from the book that I think are noteworthy.

Greed. It's an epidemic these days. "More is better!!" "Climb the ladder!!" "Having MORE will make you happy!!" ....what the heck are we listening to?

"Greed is taught in our homes, our schools, and our churches. It's a national virtue touted in glossy magazines, taught in high school marketing classes, lauded from Fortune 500 platforms and from behind glass-and-chrome pulpits. It's regaled in our theaters and our boardrooms. Be ambitious. Climb to the top. Break the glass ceiling. The feasting table is ready, buddy, come have your fill."

But is more really better? Obviously not -- I think most of us will come to the same conclusion. We are so concerned about trying to bring in the biggest haul that we completely miss out on the joy of the abundance God has already given us.

Consider this story told by writer David Sedaris. Sedaris tells of the night, as a boy, his neighbors came trick-or-treating the night after Halloween. Not wanting them to leave empty-handed, his mother instructs little David to get some leftover candy from their bags to share with the neighbors. Like most little boys, he was not inclined to share, and instead dumped his candy on his bed and proceeded to stuff his mouth full of chocolate as fast as possible. Later, as a bit of remorse began to settle in, Sedaris began to see himself as his mother might have seen him: "Here is a boy sitting on a bed, his mouth smeared with chocolate. He's a human, but also he's a pig, surrounded by trash and gorging himself so that others may be denied. ...I wonder if that is the image of us that comes to God's mind whenever we go around boasting that it is His sovereign will that all God's children be rich."

Ouch, huh. Zacharias is excellent at delivering satire. Satire is different from comedy in that it makes you laugh because you resonate with the situation, but then when you are all warm and happy the knife of realization hits you: "oh, I'm the same way." yeah, ouch.

Along with the humor and the satire is a much needed question: are we living for the temporal or the eternal? We cringe at the idea of mega-churches building empires and pastors living in multi-million dollar mansions, but still live in such a way that supports this mentality. I know I am guilty of this. "Truly, it's not what we amass in this short time we are granted, but how we spend what time we are granted."

Final story I will relay...if you want more, go get the book. This also involves kids and candy (coincidence?), but this time the young'ens are in a wedding.
"Because the children were very young their mothers bribed them with the promise of candy. Following each successful, rehearsed stroll down the isle the children were rewarded with brightly colored chewies. On the day of the wedding, when one of the youngest nephews reached the church altar, he hollered out, "WHERE'S MY CANDY?" Many of us treat God like that. We stomp our feet and make demands at the altar of the Almighty. We believe that is we uphold our half of the bargain by putting our trust in God, then He ought to do better by us. Give us the stone mansion with the carriage house out back where we can host the missionaries and the visiting pastors. God ought to bulk up our portfolios so we can better afford to give $50 a month to the kids in Zimbabwe. We make a habit to standing before God, yelling, "WHERE IS MY REWARD?" We don't yet understand that being in God's presence is the reward."