A thought for today based off of two days ago's thought

I heard a Duke University professor give this analogy in reference to the chaos regarding the current frenzied stockpile of antibiotics to fight "swine flu".

He told this story:

Imagine that you go out to buy a suit. You're really excited about this suit, and you go all out. You buy all the accessories, from the socks to the cuff links. You spend upwards of $1,000 on this outfit, and wear it out of the store to show it off. As you are walking across a bridge, you look down and see a man drowning. You don't have time to take your nice clothes off, but you don't hesitate and jump in the water to save the man's life, without even thinking of your clothes, even though they're going to be ruined.

So often we get to an emergency situation and spend without question. When confronted with need, we work something out to meet that need. What if, instead of having a $1,000 suit ruined to avert a tragedy, we wore simple clothes and built a guard rail? What if, instead of spending billions in a moment of panic to fight this specialized flu, we were spending a few dollars a day to wipe out malaria and TB and leprosy and cancer and diabetes? We could save millions of lives a bit at a time or wait until the tragedy is unavoidably present and spend lavishly. I wish we, as a culture and as individuals, were better at planning long-term and being consistently generous and preferring others.

(Also, I think it's weird that some of our blog post labels include Ace of Base, ice cream, and the Yukon. Sounds like the cards you might have in Apples to Apples.)

Yeah, that was productive . . .

What does it mean to make good use of your time?

I pondered this briefly today at the gym. This morning I spent three-and-a-half hours in a medical clinic, saw a doctor for maybe ten minutes of that time, and walked away with no x-rays, no real action plan, not even a tentative diagnosis. They simply informed me that I would get a phone call, after a few days, from someone about seeing some radiology lab somewhere that could do something for me at some future date if I paid them some uncertain amount of money. Fortunately (providentially?), during the hundred and fifty minutes that I spent in the waiting room, I discovered a copy of Richard J. Foster's Prayer and was able to mow through a few chapters. It was a good morning, I think.

At the gym, I at least "did something" (on a Precor EFX 576i, to be exact), and it was a decent workout, notwithstanding the time I irrevocably devoted to watching "Commando," a Schwarzenegger film where the hero throws around heavy objects and scowls a lot. In my partial defense, I had been watching the Miami (OH) RedHawks take out Bemidji in the NCAA "Frozen Four" semis, but it wasn't close in the third period, and there's a strange magnetism about indestructable people that drew my eyes to the silent film on the big screen. Anyway, despite the impressive feat that suplexing an occupied phone booth is, I felt palpably less intelligent even after viewing probably less than half of the movie.

Then I went over to the weights area to sculpt my guns.

Just kidding. Seriously, though, I like to get things done, and today was a good reminder that productivity isn't always what it seems.

The disciples' 401k plan

What occurred to me today: all of my planning about investing, 401k and such is based on the assumption that I live to an old age. Thing is, this might not be true. Look at the disciples. Only one of them lived more than a few years after meeting Jesus. But do you really think they would trade in that experience for the vested interest on their 401k? Heck no!

While we're not alive at the same time as Jesus -- not yet anyway -- our attitude needs to be the same: experiencing Him comes first. We cannot allow our love of money to alter our remembrance of that truth! If our security is truly in Christ rather than in a bank account, we should know to first listen to Him. He might not be telling you to invest your money. Maybe He wants you to spend it traveling, telling others of His greatness. Maybe He wants you to donate your money to a specific charity. Regardless, the point is to listen to Him! Like the disciples, you might not be cut out for a long life, either. That Roth IRA does nothing for you if your life ends in the near future.

(Technically I guess it could benefit a family member. But you know what I mean)

Americans have stuff

Addressing consumerism and stewardship from yet another angle:

The other day I heard on the radio that consumption has declined a bit in our country recently. The voice (I have no idea what station this was) lamented that if the trend continues, our economy will likely slide into a recession. It seemed to me the obvious message was that we need to consume more; does anyone else have a problem with that? I hope so...

The next day, as the voice still echoed in my head, I came upon this website entitled "The Story of Stuff;" it includes a 20-minute video presentation about resources and the economy (in lay terms, with classy illustrations), as well as information regarding things that every good Portlander loves, like sustainability and NGOs, with lots of references (books and websites).

I've only made a cursory exploration of the site myself, so I'm not endorsing it with blood or anything, but at the very least it can help us think more intentionally about processes we easily take for granted.