$8 Hotdog

This video is about 4 minutes long, but I promise you it is worth it.  I have been wanting to post it for awhile, but I wasn't sure how to reconcile the video with our trip to Paris.  With the dollar being so weak, the cost for us has risen even more than we expected.  This blog about living a life unwasted just recently addressed this issue.  The family of four has "killed their TV," decided to memorize scripture weekly, committed to eat dinner together each night and much more in an effort to simplify their lifestyle and live a life unstained.  But, they are headed on a vacation to Hawaii soon, and one of their commenters questioned them on it.  Here are some of his main points:

• We will waste our vacation if we treasure it more than Christ.
• We will waste our vacation if we spend too much time reading brochures and planning and not enough time reading the Bible and praying.
• We will waste our vacation if we think we deserve it and if we do not see it as a gift from God, designed by God.
• We will waste our vacation if we seek it as a means of escape from the "real world" rather than as a means of engaging others and deepening relationships.

This has really challenged me this week to change the way I envision this trip.  No, I do not deserve it.  Yes, it is a beautiful gift from God.  And I think it would be impossible to go to Paris for a week without deepening my relationship with Andrew!  The most difficult part might be "engaging" the French as they are notoriously rude to tourists.  Hopefully the fact that we are staying in the residential district will help with that! 

So, the point of this video is not to feel guilty about what we have.  Rather, we must be more strategic in our spending, so that we can live a beautiful life and care for our brothers and sisters in Christ simultaneously.  "It's time we listen and act."