"You don't pay taxes, they take taxes." - Chris Rock

Irish Rugby

NBCNews.com headline this morning: "Trump hits the breaks on new Russia sanctions."
Really?? Do you take your car to a break shop? (A: only if you want it broken.)

Yesterday I increased the number of sit ups I do by about 20%. That may have been too big a jump. Ugh.

Yesterday I stopped at O'Reilly Auto to buy three quarts of 10w-40 for Sally. Back in the day the service station attendant always checked your oil while your car was filling for gas and sold you a quart if your level was down.

Note: I worked in a Montgomery Wards gas station my freshman year in college and remember that part of the procedure well...along with some others I'd rather forget.)

Now most people never check their oil level between changes at their local quick lube joint. Why?
A: because engineering and materials are much better than they were 30 years ago. Surfaces don't wear like they did then and manufacturing tolerances are much narrower, so things like oil consumption are WAY down. That Sally uses a quart of oil every few tanks of oil seems like a problem unless you remember that back in the 60s that was normal.

OK, all of that to say that when I got my receipt the counter guy told me that if I went online and took their survey I could win $500. I often get the same spiel at Lowe's and in both cases have ignored it, pitching the receipt on my way out the door. Yesterday I decided I was wrong to do that.

My life is - and as I understand Scripture all believers' lives are - about stewardship. God asks me to do the best I can with what he's given me. I should not waste time, food, money....any resource. It occurred to me yesterday on the way out of O'Reilly's (why did it take this long) that God has presented me with a chance to win $500 and that ignoring that chance, however small it may be, is bad stewardship. That's a lot of money to us and a sovereign God is certainly capable of giving it to me (us). So isn't it at least potentially a waste of $500 to pitch that receipt?

So this morning I went online and said the guy behind the counter did a GREAT job of ringing up my three quarts of oil and I'd probably recommend someone else looking to buy some 10w-40 should go to O'Reilly. The chances that I win $500 for the minute that survey took are mathematically very, very small. That doesn't make it any less a matter of stewardship does it? And since when does God do math or work according to the odds?

At the risk of opening our front door and finding Guido standing there with brass knuckles in one hand and a snub-nose revolver in the other, a sincere question:
Should teachers' salaries be based on a 12-month year or the 9-month year of the school calendar.
I know they work on school stuff during the summer but is that considered part of their employment or additional work they do "off the clock"? (Most of us do or have done extra stuff beyond the work day or job description.)
My uncle was a H.S. science teacher who spent his summers working for a moving company to make extra money. That's an option most people don't have.

So I guess we should take them seriously when they say to leave your seatbelt fastened even when the light is turned off. How horrible would it be to get sucked out of a plane! Would that alone make you unconscious? I hope so.

We've got our small group meeting tonight. I just got back from the gym so it's time to shower, feed goats, and head over to Hamm's for our potluck and then discussion.