A little discovery I made about our local tap water.
If you live in Scotts Valley, you know that the local tap water smells and tastes awful. There’s no reason why most of the population must independently filter or buy their own water. The local water board should be prosecuted for fiscal mismanagement because they should’ve taken care of this decades ago. In this day and age there’s no excuse for it.
Especially after my little discovery. I was taking water from Café Bethany and pouring it into my 2-gallon water cooler. The café filters it; they don’t mind if we drink it; and it didn’t hurt to have a little extra in my room to make coffee. So one morning I’m filling my coffee carafe when I notice an unwholesome odor. I open the lid on my cooler and discover I have a mold. (Café water comes out the same tap as the fruit punch; if any sugar gets into the water, mold can grow.) Down the drain. But as I’m scrubbing the cooler, I realize—the moldy water smelled like the freakin’ tap water.
Coincidence? COINCIDENCE? I don’t think so. In the process of testing the city water for lead and mercury and other brain-fuddling chemicals, has anyone bothered to test it for biological agents? Somebody call Erin Brockovich.
A little discovery I made about Charles Stanley’s free vacations.
Before
I went to church this Sunday I found Charles Stanley’s website. I find him entertaining, but I can’t agree with everything he teaches; I’m pentecostal and he isn’t. But I put up with him. He doesn’t make me want to throw things at the TV like John Hagee.
I’m bothered by his “teaching cruises.” You buy a cruise ship package, and you get to listen to Stanley preach for a week. It’s through Templeton Tours, and I was on their mailing list, so I know a bit about this. Basically, you get twenty people to pay for trips, and you travel for free.
I keep thinking about how the suckers are blowing hundreds of dollars on the live equivalent of fifty Charles Stanley TV shows. If that. What’s worse is that they’ve found a “Christian” justification for taking a cruise. I’m not saying Christians shouldn’t take vacations, or indulge in the occasional luxury; I’m not going to repeat Judas Iscariot’s false-pious complaint that the money could go to the poor. But they shouldn’t justify the expense by applying artificial sanctification.
What I’d like to see is a vacation package where the people take a day off from their pampered relaxation to do a little Christian service: say, go to Brazil and take some time off to help build a church building. Something like that. Vacations with purpose. Stanley could even bring Jimmy Carter along. (They’re gonna have to get along in heaven; they should start making the effort now.)
Take some charity, wouldya?
Been hanging out lately with L lately; we went to Bethany together in the ’90s and he found out that I was again in the area. He’s an addict, but he’s working on it. Addictions are always rough, and Christians are not always understanding. They think all you need is Jesus and he’ll set you free. It’s been my experience that Jesus makes us deal with the consequences of any problems we create for ourselves after we become Christians. (He figures we know better, so there.) So L will just have to work the program. That sucks, but that’s life.
My biggest problem with L is that he keeps giving me money. He needs it more than I do but he doesn’t want me to get the idea that he’s taking advantage of our friendship, so he tries to pay for everything I give him. I give him coffee and he offers to pay for it. Fr’crying out loud, man, accept some charity, willya?
…But then again, I used to be like that too, so I gotta give him grace. I still don’t take compliments well. I gotta remember to say, “Thank you” instead of “I know.”