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.

Some further thought on Micronesia:

Missions work is complicated. It always has been. I think it is more so today because of the rapid change in the world around us.
I have already introduced you to Asial Ruda. I enjoyed getting to know him while I was in Palau. Like me, he was visiting there for Gospel Day. Though he is Chuukese, and ministers in Yap, for a number of reasons--involvement with Liebenzell Mission, being a graduate of PIBC (Or as it was known when he graduated, Micronesian Instutute of Biblical Studies), etc.--he has a number of connections to the church in Palau. Over a couple of meals that we shared together, Asial shared with me about some of the changes that have taken place in his Island state. Asial is still in his 40s. He told me that when he first went to Yap it was common for people to show up at church functions wearing grass skirts. When there was a meal at their meeting place, many people would bring food wrapped in leaves. No more. Now it is Western clothing and Tupper-ware. Former Missionary on Palau, Bill Schuit, told how when he was there, boats were the primary means of transportation, now roads and bridges have changed life so that one local told him that only tourists and fishermen use boats now.
In the West, we have been dealing with negative culture for decades and we still aren't doing as well as we would like. There is no gradual change in these Islands on the other side of the world. When satellite TV comes, it all comes. When Internet access arrives, everything can be accessed.
Missionaries, pastors and other Christians workers are constantly trying to hit a moving target. "Let's see what is the status of the culture of the people I'm trying to reach, today?"

My conclusion is that in a place like Micronesia, where there is a substantial church already in existence--flawed, but in many places, and ways, basically sound--that our best chance is to help train a generation of indigenous Christian-leaders, who can bring the changeless truth of scripture to their rapidly changing world.

Again, I welcome your comments.

Check out my friend, Dave Owen's blog for some more pictures and reports. http://owensonguam.com/