Death by Suburbs

How do you know that you are being poisoned by your environment? Maybe when you make yourself believe you need a new 32" HD flat screen tv.....after all, the hand-me-down big screen projection tv we had is busted....and we can't watch the Steelers play on the 19 inch tv we have upstairs....it's a ministry tool - we watch Beth Moore videos on it.....

But then we got this thing home and every time I walked by it, I felt stupid.

Stupid because we spent so much money on a tv - even with the bargain hunting and comparison shopping, it was alot of money. Stupid because for the amount of money we spent, the sound and the picture quality were pretty disappointing. Stupid because we've got a car with 175,000 miles on it and can't figure out how we'll afford to replace it one day....yet we have this monsterous tv. Stupid because it represents our mixed up priorities.

So, the tv is going back. They told us we've got 30 days to change our minds and we did.

And then I read this article in Christianity Today and wondered how we can keep ourselves from being influenced by our environment? The author suggests that we don't need to do anything too extreme, and that we can learn to "be in the world, but not of the world", but I'm wondering, what if your tv causes you to stumble? Take it back! What if your neighbors make you think you need to drive a newer/bigger/nicer car? Maybe we should get new neighbors? Maybe....I don't know the answer....but I thought they were good questions our family probably needs to be asking...