Chiggers, the Price of Gas, and Other Random Thoughts

For those of you curious, I've not had a chance to further test the Peanut Butter diet theory. I ran out of peanut butter, at least the reduced fat kind. Some people are amazed that I like the reduced fat kind better - I just think it tastes better. The other day I was able to identify why. The reduced fat (at least in the Peter Pan line) tastes sweeter. I checked the labels, and sure enough, the reduced fat has more sugar - 5 grams vs. 3 grams per equal sized serving. I guess that's a trade off.

Last week I went on a few different hikes with the boys. My youngest son wanted to go on a long hike. He had asked to go on a six mile hike in order to explore a pond I had recently discovered. I convinced him of a shorter one. When we got back to the car, we still had done over three miles. I was very proud of him. The next day I took my other son and his friends on a hike to one of their favorite spots in the woods. They had a great time, so I did too. Sunday night I discovered two chigger bites that are driving me crazy right now. I suppose that is the price you pay for being in the woods.

I filled my car up yesterday. I paid $3.42 a gallon at one of the discount warehouses. I couldn't believe it. While driving around town, I noticed the average price in our area is about $3.5o per gallon. I never thought I would see these kind of prices in my lifetime. And there does not seem to be any sign of the prices to reverse any time soon. It's appalling. In a separate conversation, a friend mentioned the government should get involved. He said all it takes is the word "regulation" and we'll see the prices go back down.

As I paid way too much to fill up my Toyota Corolla I thought about that conversation and debated the merits of that idea. I'm pretty conservative when it comes to my views on how involved the government needs to be in our lives. I'm usually a proponent of "let the market handle things". When I tried to apply that principle to the gas prices, I'm not entirely convinced that would work. It would take the consumers - us - resorting to buying less fuel, using less fuel, and making the personal sacrifices necessary to see it have any effect. As a society, we have already demonstrated that we are willing to pay whatever it costs in order to do what we want. How many of us have said as express our frustration over the prices, "But we've got to have it"? So, I began to think about that government regulation idea. Am I willing to make the tradeoff in order to have lower prices? Would regulation actually lower the price or result in something else?

This blog is supposed to be about our faith journeys. What kind of tradeoffs do we make in our faith journeys, positive and negative? What ones should we make? I don't have a well thought out response for that yet, but I do have some ideas.

Community is one of those tradeoffs. When we enter a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, i.e. become a Christian, begin a faith journey, etc., we become part of a larger group doing the same. The Bible calls it the Body of Christ. It's not always easy, convenient, or even desirable to be part of a larger body. It requires us to put our individual desires and preferences aside. We are called to look out to the interests of others, not just ourselves.

Some tradeoffs are artificial ones we create, thinking them necessary and required. In our efforts to become changed people and more like Jesus, we establish systems of rules that have to be observed when they have little to do with being like Jesus.

There are plenty others. What are some of the ones you think of? Am I off base with the two I've started with? Just a thought - what are yours?