Jumping Joey's

Took the children recently to Jumping Joey's. It's so hot these days that we have to figure out a way to entertain/wear them out while not giving us all heat strokes. Jumping Joey's has several inflatables: slides, moon bounces, obstacle courses, etc. One of our two children had a whole lot of fun. One did not. I'll let you guess which was which!

A Great Way to Start the Day

Well, it finally happened with our son, Ryan (a.k.a., "Bubba"). Early this morning I heard our 1 year old son crying in his crib. Instead of simply shoving an elbow into his mama (my normal reaction to hearing one of our children cry), I decided to be the good dad and to go check on my little Bubba. Surely he just needed to eat, or to be changed, or maybe he'd lost his pacifier, right?

I walk into his room, turn on the light, and discover that Ryan had somehow managed to remove his diaper from his body.

Before I go any further, there are two things you need to know. Number one: I did not put him to bed last night. Some other adult who lives in our household put him to bed in only his diaper, without pj's. I'm not assigning any blame here, because we are a team and we are in this together and so we support and do not blame each other, right? But baby, what were you thinking?!?

Secondly, this same scenario happened with our daughter when she was about the same age as Ryan. In her case, she had removed her diaper, but was so mortified by the contents within that she just cried without attempting a full internal investigation.

Not my son.

The boy decided that what was in his diaper was the most fascinating thing he'd ever seen. This substance was so intriguing, in fact, that it needed to be fully explored. Evidently, he discovered that it was the best product he'd ever encountered. Have you ever seen the movie, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"? Remember how the dad was obsessed with Windex, and believed that it would cure anything. That was my son with his diaper surprise:

"What would it feel like on my head? Oohh, that's nice. Probably good for my hair. This will give it a nice shine. Maybe this stuff is good for my complexion. This baby acne is driving me crazy. Hmmm, this feels good. Little bit of this will help me keep my youthful look. Maybe this stuff will be good for my sheets. I bet it will keep them soft and comfy. Wow, that looks good. This stuff is like a miracle product. Maybe my teddy bear could use some, too. Here, Teddy. This will change your life..."

Fortunately, I was able to intervene in the situation before he decided that it would make good paint for the walls as well.

I know the stock market has been rough lately, but here is a tip: buy stock in a company that sells bleach. We bought enough that their next quarter's earnings are going to be tremendous.

Conspicuous Consumption

The headlines in the news this week all proclaim that the debt crises has been "averted." Unfortunately, the deal struck did not do much to solve the real problem of this country: that we are spending far more (to the tune of $1.5 trillion annually) than we have. Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Independent, or a Don't-Care, you would not last long if you ran your household in the same fashion that the United States government runs this country. To spend nearly 70% more than your income each month is foolish, and yet... seemingly... the American way.

According to latest statistics, the United States government is not the only one in debt. Americans owe on credit cards alone a whopping $975 billion. The average household has nearly $10,000 in credit card (unsecured, high interest rate) debt. It seems that our government is not the only one who is in love with debt. As Americans, we want what we want NOW and not later.

Sure, a certain amount of debt is almost unavoidable. My wife and I never would have been able to get a home of our own without a bank lending us the money. Most small businesses would never get off the ground without taking on debt. Debt itself is not evil, and yet too much and the wrong kind of debt can destroy lives (and maybe even destroy a nation!)

The root cause of this debt crises is what many people call "conspicuous consumption." This term was first introduced by a man named Thorstein Veblen in his work The Theory of the Leisure Class, written in 1899. He describes conspicuous consumption as a symptom observed in a society where over-consumption becomes the social norm. He used this term to denote the consumption of goods for the purpose of displaying social status and wealth.

Veblan certainly was not viewing this from a Biblical perspective. He was a devout atheist who also believed that churches were simply a waste of building space and described pastors as a group of people paid to do nothing useful at all (please hold all snide comments). But, his observation about the dangers of over-consumption were on target. We have become so obsessed with instant gratification that we will sacrifice anything, including our future, in order to obtain what we want now.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 reads: "Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income." We could add to that, "Whoever loves stuff never has enough." While there is nothing wrong with buying, purchasing, and having, we must be careful that our material wants do not rule over us.

I'll close with a great line from the movie, "Forrest Gump." Played by Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump at one point receives a pile of money. Not much in his lifestyle changes. In fact, he gives most of it away. His reason? “Mama always said a man only needs so much money, the rest is just for showing off.”