Behold....the God-o-Matic!

I was very inspired by two posts today.


One, from Stuff Christians Like about self-centeredness in ministry. It hurt to read - like my flu shot that hurt for 4 days.


Another, from the Church of No People about marketing and ads and the evils within. It also mentioned that Americans are great crybabies today....not tough, like in the "good ole days":

Americans are a bunch of crybabies. As soon as something goes slightly wrong - we get a tummyache or the sniffles, we want a fix now. In the old days, that didn't happen. Back when average men worked in smog factories and ate lunch out of buckets, know what they did when they mangled their hands in the machinery? They drank some 'tonic,' and then went home and chopped wood for the fireplace...because the boss fired them for breaking the machine.


Between these two - I realize I don't have a God, but a vending machine. I actually knew this a long time ago, but clearily I still see Jesus as a God-o-matic with magic elixers for whatever ails me at the time. I am a great crybaby and a great justifier. I can justify anything I say or do --- which usually ends up proving that I am first, a great crybaby.

When did I forget God actually cares about me? That he doesn't want my "two cents" in exchange for a nudge one way or another - but He wants to know the whole story. He wants to talk about it over coffee. Or a pan of brownies. Or both. There's a relationship there. The only relationship I've ever had with a vending machine was when the coke machine at work raised the prices and I nearly cussed it out and then proceeded to tell my coworkers what an outrage it was.

Wah...wah....wah.....