Me with my lovely wife, Kathy:

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Advice for Michael & Beer with the President:

I need to continue my advice for the former Virginia Tech star, and I need some help:

OK, Michael, first let's talk about debt.
First you don't want to get in it, at least no more than you are, or were. I say "were," because from TV commercials that promise to eliminate credit card or IRS debt, to celebrities who claim to need $10K a week just to live in spite of the fact that they owe $10 gazillion, it seems that our culture regards it as acceptable to not pay our debts--or at least to put debt retirement way down on our list of financial responsibilities.
If you get the job you are after, #1 on your list of things to do with your salary is not:
  1. To be seen with two lovely ladies at a posh New York restaurant.
  2. To by a car that costs more than most people's house.
  3. A new earring.
  4. Don't even think about buying a dog. (Adopt, maybe)
  5. For more on this matter listen to Dave Ramsey.

Psalm 15 speaks about the person of integrity keeping his word even when it costs him. Proverbs says that when we are debt we are servants of the one we owe (22:7).

The honest way to get free is to pay what you owe. In this regard we need to remember that not everything that is legal is right. Here is a headline to make:
"Second-chance Quarterback Makes Paying Debts #1 Priority."
Drive a used car. Live in a modest apartment. Buy your clothes at Walmart. You have no right to live high, while you have unpaid debts.

If people figure out you are serious about this, you'll get a lot of interviews.

(If anyone else is reading Michael's mail, translate the above to your own situation. One of the tragic transitions I have observed in my lifetime is how people have gone from asking the question, "What do I owe?" to the query, "How little can I get by with paying back?)

Help me out. I need advice.

I figure it is just a matter of time. I need to know what to do when President Obama invites me to the White House for a beer. We all know that his rapport with older preachers who are of a persuasion that used to be called "Fundamentalist" (before that word got ruined by the radical fringe). So I figure any day now at a Rose Garden press conference, my name will be mentioned--"I'm having my people get in touch with him to see if we can sit down and have a beer."

Here's my problem. I don't drink beer. I know that the Bible doesn't prohibit it, but I conclude, based on Biblical principles, that not drinking is the best course of action both for me personally, and as an example to others.
So do I turn President Obama down? My wife would never forgive me. She would love a trip to the White House. She doesn't drink beer either, (If alcohol becomes an option I figure she's be a wine person.) but I figure she'd get a courtesy invitation to talk decorating with Michelle.
Or maybe I show up and just kind of move the glass around--or maybe since I make less than $100K it would be served in the can or bottle. No doubt there is an under-secretary of style who makes such decisions.
Do I have an obligation to tell the Leader of the Free World about the dangers of alcohol? Some of my preacher brethren would think I had failed if I didn't.
Or should I memorize 1 Corinthians 9 and drink away? It seems that another group of my preacher-type brethren have concluded that unless I get over my alco-phobia I will never get to talk to upwardly-mobile movers and shakers like the Obamas. (Not to mention the good-ol-boy crowd, who emblazzon their brew preference on T-shirt, truck, and Junior's diaper bag.)

I'd appreciate advice as soon as possible Officer Crowley and Professor Gates are up. Sean Hannity is angling to be on deck. I need to be ready for the nod.

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