No practice, no progress

Soon after Congress passed the Bill raising fuel economy standards for cars and truck I came across an article in the Washington Post by Warren Brown. Brown noted that the energy problem facing the US is best summarized by one question: is it possible to get consumers to accept changes that require some degree of sacrifice without asking them to sacrifice anything? For an example he cited the 2008 Auto show. Here the automakers unveiled several new cars that promised better fuel economy.
“We are shielding consumers from the truth,” said a GM executive. "The truth is we can’t have effective fuel conservation policy without giving up something—size, power. Consumers have no intention of giving up anything for energy conservation."
Michael Jackson, chairman of retail group that "America needs to get serious...getting serious means asking consumers and everyone involved in the energy development and consumption cycle to accept some degree of sacrifice. Gain without pain is not possible. We need to stop suggesting it is."
Drug maker are advertising pills that they say will enable you to eat almost anything and have no heartburn. Go ahead--eat irresponsibly. Health officials are worried about the cost of obesity. One solution is gastric bypass surgery. The cost is high. $30K. The question is who pays for it. If it is the only way in the long run people to control their weight, and obese people get diabetes which is extremely costly to treat, maybe surgery will be the high cost of saving money on health care.

Christian spirituality normally involves a measure of suffering. Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. He was famished. Later when he is facing the cross he goes to the Garden of Gethsemane and asks God if there is some way to accomplish his mission without going through the horrible pain of the cross. Is there, he asks, some other way to avoid the fate that lay before him. No. “Not my will but they will be done.”
Those who follow Jesus are called to live a way of life that calls us to live in the ways of the new world God is creating instead of the old world around us. Suffering may take the form of actual persecution. Even in the tolerant modern Western world people can suffer discrimination because of their commitment to Jesus Christ. People tell me of the hostile environment for Christians at work. They are told to keep their beliefs and convictions to themselves.

Suffering comes in many forms: illness, bereavement, moral dilemmas, poverty, tragedy, accident and death. A pastor friend of mine, Paul Machori, will be heading back to Kenya this week. Paul is placing himself in the middle of tribal warfare in his home village. He believes the only way to stop the ehtnic violence is for people of faith being willing to stand tall and even suffer death. Someone has to stand tall and suffer in order for others to see the folly of their ways.
Nobody reading the Nwe Testament or the Christian literature of the first 3 centuries could have accused the early Christians of painting too rosy a picture of what life would be like for those who follow Jesus. But the point here is that it is precisely when we are suffering that we can confidently expect the sprite to be with us.
Jesus was led by the spirit into the dessert and he overcame all temptation. He prepared himself and he stod corageously against the wiles of the Devil.
Americans it seems don’t want to sacrifice for a common goal. It is okay for someone else to sacrifice so they don’t have to. Our people decided to fight a War in Iraq while at the same time giving massive tax cuts. The sacrifices of the war are being bore solely by the military families...and of course our grandchildren who will have to pay for the debt we are racking up.

Back to the American automakers and the false myth they are producing that we can have superior fuel economy without sacrificing comfort, power and performance. There is this firm conviction that technology will solve all our problems. don't make tough choices. Don't tell people they need to change. Technology will solve the problems. Innocation will cure all that ails us.
A man bought a car with GPS. Being technologically challenged, he excitedly asked the machine. How do I get to Carnegie hall? The GPS instantly replied, “Practice, practice. Practice."