Got Gas?

Over at my wife’s blog this morning, she posted about the big scare that Ike is having on oil prices. The cool thing is that both she and I agree on how to effectively battle the cost of rising gas prices. It’s a very simple idea that I hope catches on and it can be summed up using two words; Use Less! When I saw the Yahoo headline this morning about 5 dollars a gallon for gas, my first thought was not about running out to fill up while I can but rather what can I do to use less gas. Gas has been a “sore” subject in my family for quite some time. From my wife wanting to implement the “envelope” method for our gas spending to how much I spend on gas going to different ball games throughout the week and on weekends while I’m un-employed. (sorry for airing our dirty laundry, babe :} ) I have to agree with her on this though, the greatest affect that we can have on gas prices is to consume less. The reality of this is that consuming less actually goes beyond driving down prices for me. It’s also about being a better steward of what God has given me. It’s that by consuming less of what God has given me, I can give more. We are all consumers of many different things. Things that maybe we don’t always realize or think about like; clothes, gas, time, blessings, money, emotions, energy, water, trees, land, oxygen, etc… I think the struggle between my wife and I stems from the fact that I can be considered a super-consumer! I love to spend, use and discard all kinds of things. It’s a little unusual because I’m a man who loves to shop and not just shop but also buy, but if I can’t buy then I will still shop and dream about what to buy! Nothing makes me happier than buying the latest gadget, toy or sporting good. I constantly want an inexhaustible list of stuff. At this very moment here is a short list of some things I “need”: Mizuno 9 Spike Blast Turf shoes (I’m going to die if I don’t get these soon!), softball bat, batting practice balls, Brian “Head” Welch’s new CD, fishing license, tequila shad colored fishing worms, bullet weights, new batting gloves, miter saw, new headphones for my MP3 player (nice ones, not the cheap walmart kind ;), Xbox games, “It” by Craig Groeschel, some books by Charles Martin, a hundred other books and a new fishing rod and reel. That is the short list! Oh! I forgot to mention a boat, canoe or kayak. They had this great inflatable, hard bottom boat at SamsClub yesterday that normally sells for $200 that was marked down to $68. I actually called Sherlyn to see if I could guage her reaction if I were to purchase the boat but she didn't answer so I wasn't brave enough to buy it. ;) Then there are the shorts I saw at Dick’s Sporting goods this weekend on sale for just $14 and some new underarmour shirts. On second thought I might be what you call a Mega-Super-Consumer. I love my wife and we’ve been together for almost 14 years but I just realized yesterday how tired she must become of constantly hearing about all the things I want. (Sorry again Babe!)
I really began to examine my Mega-Super-consumer attitude a couple months ago during a Craig Groeschel sermon series called “How to be Rich”. He talks about how we are rich, we just consume all of what God has given us. I began to look at this in my life and my marriage, not only how we do this with our money but how we consume other things like time, relationships and emotions to the point where we are left with nothing to give. By now, I bet you are asking, what does all this have to do with Gas prices. Well… I’m not really sure but maybe if I wanted less and consumed less and shopped less I would learn to share resources with others. I could do things like carpool, shop in groups, buy in bulk and share with others, share groceries to keep others from having to go to the grocery store. Stay at home and sit down at the table to share a meal with my wife. Turn the TV off and talk or read, maybe even pick up my bible. If I were to shop less, then I might have more time to fellowship with friends. I would still have to use gas but in the long run, I would spend less and consume less. (Petroleum is used to produce and ship many of the products that we consume). I think this will have a greater long term effect on not only gas prices but our lives and the earth that God created. I guess my biggest conviction through all this meditation on my mega-super-consumerism is am I being a good steward of all that God has given me.

Genesis 1:26-31 (New International Version)
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.