Dear Credit Card companies

Dear Credit Card companies,

I appreciate your ability to help 'build' and 'give' financial credit to people.  I am not sure if I could have bought a house without good credit and your little plastic cards help me build up (with regular and on time payments) my credit.  Apparently no institution would or could trust me without your seal of approval, so thank you for that.

Just a quick little word that I want to share with you.  I have been a faithful account holder for ten years. That little card helped me get gas when my tank was empty driving home on Thanksgiving in college as well as help me with some food when I was all out of cash the other day.  I have only been late with one payment and that was when I was getting married and my statement did not forward to me as I forgot to notify the post office, but that late fee and additional interest has taught me to make sure that I get my payments in on time no matter what.

The issue that I have had with you is not that you target people who are highly vulnerable such as high school grads, college students, and those with several other maxed out cards, although I wonder how you feel about that.  The issue is not even that you are willing to lower my interest rate when I call up and ask for one but will never keep it at that lower rate.  It is not even the fact that I receive loads of paperwork from you telling me of all the advantages I get when I spend more money using your card (why don't you just credit my account with the amount of money you save from sending crap in the mail to me, I am sure I would spend more that way).

No, the issue I have with you is you are the worst at saying goodbye.  I mean the absolute worst.  No means no.  I do not appreciate the fact that I have to say "I would like to close my account" seven times in order to get your "account specialist" to push that red button and shut 'er down.  I do not need a lower rate.  I do not need cash advances with low one time transaction fees.  I do not need you to apologize for putting me on hold for less than one minute then apologize again for "taking so long".  I do not need you to tell me of the different advantages I could get if I upgrade my card.  I do not need to have a different picture on the front of my card to make it "uniquely" mine.  All I need is for you to do is close the account, you don't even have to thank me for my business (or the "relationship" as you insist on calling it).  Just close the account.

I know I have been a "faithful customer" with you for ten years (you boldly print that on the card for me to brag to my friends), and so I feel I can say this due to our "long" history, just cancel my account and do not send me flyers how I have been pre-qualifed for a new card.

Jason

I cannot see with these lenses on

I was in a conversation not too long ago about the story of Jesus with Martha and Mary (Luke 10). Sermons about this text tend to be either:

• Pro Mary - We all need to stop being busy and be in worship and at the feet of God.
• Pro Martha - Martha's make the world work and without them the Church would be closed.
• Pro Mary/Martha Balance - We need to be both Mary and Martha and hold them in balance.

All three of these directions have their merit and are great topics of conversation and sermons. However the direction the conversation went the other day was neither of these directions. We talked about how Jesus did not participate in triangulation between Martha and Mary. Jesus does not scold Martha or Mary on their decisions but remains neutral in the dialog. It was a good conversation by the church members and one for which I was glad to help facilitate.

After worship, a person came up to me and shared that they were "disappointed", and then rephrased and said "surprised" that I did not share the meaning of that story to the congregation - that is if we all were more like Mary then we would all be better off. If we were truly like Mary and devoted to God for our needs, then we would not have to be like Martha busy doing other things.

It dawned on me that the entire conversation during the sermon was something this person did not see. The entire conversation about Jesus not taking sides, not triangulating, had not registered at all. For this person, the meaning of the story was quite clear - we need to be like Mary.

It got me thinking and wondering if it is even possible for a sermon (even a dialogical one) can help people see more to a story/parable at all? Can we see something new if we keep our current lenses on? Can we see something in the story or parable that we did not see before even if what we are seeing runs counter to our entire understanding of that story or parable?

It was recently shared with me a quote for which I cannot cite the source and cannot get the correct wording, but it was something to the effect that "we try to calm waters that God is trying to stir up."

Interpreting the Bible seems like that. We are trying to find the answers and thus create lenses by which we understand the story/parable and thus calm the water. But God is trying to stir up that water. Will we ever be able to allow God to stir up water and be okay with that?

And they call is paradise?

Everyone who goes on vacation has to show off pictures of the place they visited. Here are a few of the pics my wife took while we were on Kauai's north shore called Hanalei Bay.

This is what you see when you look out the window when you wake up.

And when you arrive on the beach.

And when you take your beloved on the peer.

I have never been at the end of the rainbow.

One of my favorite plants. No idea what it is.

I guess this is cool if you are into "beauty".