Consume this!

“As long as you don’t mind living off the land,” she concluded. My host’s caveat assured me I’d found the ideal location for a three-day retreat from the busy life I lead in the city.

A new self-storage business recently opened in my end of town. It’s huge – nine buildings with 768 storage units of varying sizes. Looking at it, I wondered: How many people need to rent extra space to store their stuff?

I remember waking up in the morning to the music of The Price is Right, with all its game-show hype and excitement. It was easy to be drawn into the glitz and glamour, participate in the purchasing “games,” and imagine the joy of winning…

I can’t mow my lawn right now. Not because I’m physically unable to do so and not because I don’t need to. I can’t mow my lawn right now because I don’t own a lawnmower. There’s one close by, but I can’t get to it right now because it’s in my neighbour’s garage.

Some people cut out dairy. Others abstain from sugar to make them feel better. Tom and Malora Mulhern are cutting out the mall.

In The Year of Living Biblically, journalist A. J. Jacobs set out to live according to all the commandments of the old and new testaments in their most literal form – in Manhattan no less. That meant growing a huge beard, not mixing fabrics in his clothes, stoning adulterers, not sitting on the same seat as menstruating women (a difficult task, he says, on the NY subway), and treating his slaves well – or in his case, unpaid interns…

Jimmy stumbles out of bed just before seven, and groggy, and reaches for the first cup of conveniently perked coffee thanks to his programmable coffeemaker. Then it’s straight to the computer to begin his daily morning routine.

In our materialistic culture where ethics has become an individual’s private affair, it’s high time decisions regarding our material possessions  become more prominent in our Christian communities. One issue ignored…