Happy Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving, a day to be thankful for the long list of things God has blessed me with. Family, friends, freedom, fishing, football... AHhhhhh.... football. Watching maybe the singe worst Thanksgiving lineup in history this afternoon I realized how thankful I am to have seen Barry Sanders jukin' and groovin' through opposing defenses for the Detroit Lions on so many wonderful Thanksgivings. Seeing this year's Lion team struggle to rise above putrid to become merely horrible as they got plastered by the Tennessee Titans, I was reminded how incredible Barry was to watch. In twenty years of avid NFL fandom, I've never been so entertained as when Barry had the ball in his hands. So on this Thanksgiving, I just want to give my appreciation to the most entertaining back in NFL history. Thanks Barry.

Church Rant

“I’ve heard it hundreds of times: I’m looking for a church that meets my needs. Can you admit for a moment how incredibly unbiblical that statement is?”

--Craig Groeschel, Senior Pastor, lifechurch.tv

I ran across this statement the other day and was struck by how familiar it feels, how I can relate. One of the hardest aspects of working with students is encouraging them to connect with a local church. Yes, I’m going to pick on students, but this tirade has much much broader application, and I have to confess that during my time as a typical student at the University of Oregon, “I am the worst of them.”

After pure, unadulterated sloth the excuse I receive most often as to why a student hasn’t connected with a local church is that they haven’t found ‘the right church,’ but when pressed on what that is, ninety-nine times out of a hundred they fall back to ‘one that meets my needs.’ It’s a consumer mentality. They want a church they can really ‘get something out of.’ It rarely, if ever, occurs to them that they should really be seeking a place they can give something back to. There are, of course, exceptions, but most want a place where they can sit with a large group of people who look, talk, act and smell like them so they can all feel comfortable doing as little as Christianly possible. OUCH! And yes, I just made up a new word, but try to focus on the point, which is that we have GOT to get better at challenging one another to live richer lives in Christ (Hebrews 10:24-25). And I believe that begins by connecting more closely with the entire body of Christ, not just those parts that seem most attractive to us.

Statistically we, who claim to follow Jesus, who claim to be empowered by the Holy Spirit of the Living God, are nearly identical to the world around us. (I say nearly because the argument can be made that we’re actually a little worse off.) Statistically we are NOT being transformed by the renewing of our minds, but instead doing a nifty job of conforming to the world (Romans 12:1-2). Perhaps if we disciplined our bodies a bit more rigorously (1 Corinthians 9:27) we’d be a bit more likely to actually share the light of Christ with the world.

What would happen, do you suppose, if a million college students actually went to bed one Saturday night (while it was still was Saturday night and not Sunday morning), got a good night’s sleep and went to church on Sunday with a mindset of giving instead of receiving? What if a million students walked into sanctuaries across America next week and asked all those pastors, “What can I do to help?” My guess is that once the shock wore off we’d see a revival break out. Of course, that assumes that the students are actually willing to serve in whatever capacity the church leaders see fit. I’ll never forget hearing one of my seminary professors, whom I greatly admire, tell us that the one of the best things we could do to prepare ourselves as pastors was serve in a church nursery for a year. Rocking babies and entertaining three-year-olds may not seem like much, but it’s actually some of the most valuable service you can offer. Likewise, vacuuming the sanctuary or cleaning the church bathrooms or mowing the lawn around the building; all amazing feats of ministry that many Christians haven’t got the spiritual maturity to handle. Helping park cars for Jesus makes a difference! What would happen if a million college students gave an hour a week—or even half an hour!—to help the local church?

The unfortunate truth is that we may never know. Because the typical student goes to a church once, and if they don’t see a large group of other students milling aimlessly about they leave and never come back. And whether it is called ‘church shopping’ or ‘church hopping’ the result is the same. They walk in with a Me First mentality and look for the exit at the first sign of discomfort. They walk in looking for an excuse to not come back! Ouch.

Now, if you’re a college student and you’re reading this, don’t act all surprised and offended. First, you know I’m generally right, and second, it’s not all your fault. The vast majority of you grew up in churches where were were marginalized from birth. I know, I know, that sounds ridiculous, but think about it. How involved are the youth and children of your church in the life of the congregation? Not, how central, how involved? Kids generally are central to a church; they tend to get their share of space and money from the budget, parents wouldn’t have it any other way, but what is expected of them? Are they ever invited to business meetings? Are they included in planning for outreaches and celebrations? Do they as individuals and a group have any responsibilities to the body of the local church? Or are they coddled?

I serve in an association of over 50 churches. Every year we meet to talk about what’s going on with one another and discuss any pressing business. Then we break for a meal and have some sort of ministry rally. During that time we traditionally have one rally for adults and one for youth… in separate locations. Now, the youth rally is really cool, with good speakers and a kickin’ band and lots of kids are effected deeply by the experience, which is awesome. However, think about this for a minute. We’ve taken them away from the rest of the church. They have no responsibilities at the main meetings, no input, no expectations, no involvement whatsoever. Nothing. Nada. ZERO. They DO have an awesome time with one another in a controlled environment where they don’t have to do much other than show up and hang out with other youth. And that’s the problem. All they see is one another and that’s the view they develop of what a healthy church should look like, and it’s wrong. Listen, people argue about what a healthy church looks like all the time, but everyone agrees that it’s multi-generational. You need senior adults and children and people of all ages to really understand what the body of Christ was meant to be. To give up, or substitute a generic campus ministry (as I did and many other students continue to do) and call that ‘church,’ is a cop out.

Sometimes we do the most damage with the best intentions. We have a tendency to keep the bar low for our kids, spiritually, and wonder why they underachieve later. This generation of college students grew up getting trophies for being on the team, as if that was an accomplishment, they had kindergarten graduation parties; they were spoiled. We’ve given them everything we could except self-esteem. They’ve never had to work for accolades so they feel entitled. They are the children of the original “me” generation, and true to form (at least when it comes to church), they’re as self-centered as their parents. We’ve valued such that they don’t understand value. In a sense, we’ve denied them hard labor, and we’re surprised that they’re soft.

So, in order to avoid the ‘cranky old man’ label, I’m not only going to sound the alarm like a good watchman, I’m going to offer a couple of solutions.

Solution 1: Responsibility—Churches need to get children, youth and students used to having responsibilities early on. Let them clean a couple of Sunday School rooms when they’re young, help take the offering or light candles or help with the audio/visual systems as they get older, and give them a place in front of the congregation as opportunity arises. In America you have to be 35 to be president, but in far too many churches you have to be over 65 to pray in front of the church…

Solution 2: Involvement—Get youth and college students involved in the business of the body. Yes, that means inviting them to business meetings and even encouraging them to talk and give input on decisions. No, you don’t have to do everything they say, but if you don’t train them to speak, don’t be surprised by their silence. As a man sows, so shall he reap…

Solution 3: Expectation—Or accountability. If we’re going to get younger generations to participate in body life, we have to raise the bar for them and hold them accountable for reaching it. This means giving establishing goals and consequences for them. We have to give them a path to follow and apply both the carrot and stick to keep them on it. Keeping with the farm metaphor, how do train an ox? You put the younger one with an older one to guide it along until it knows how to do the job. We’re not doing that much in America today, and we’re paying for it with generations who aren’t looking to till a field, just munch the grass they find growing on it.

Can I be honest here? I think that students today represent the best hope the world has for real change. Your passion for social justice is overwhelming. Your desire for relationship is incredible. Your environmental awareness is nearly omnipresent. And your empowerment is at an all-time high. Never have so many had so much to do so good. If only you would stand up and seize that potential! If only you would become the leaders you were meant to be!

We all know people are basically selfish. Face it, you are. I am. Every child coming straight from the womb is entirely self-centered. I’m not saying that’s wrong, but it is a problem you have to overcome. But that’s not my point. My point is that selfish people often do selfish things. Slavery? Selfish. Rape? Selfish. Physical abuse? Selfish. Selfish. Greed? Selfish. Pride? Selfish. That burning desire to do what YOU want to do is what drives us. And sometimes that leads us to accomplish great things, but let’s not pretend to altruistic motives for progress just yet. The United States first landed a man on the moon not because we wanted to explore outer space, but because we wanted to beat the Soviets to the “high ground” in a war of nuclear proliferation. Drug companies spend millions of dollars on research to cure diseases not just to help people, but because billions of dollars are at stake.

People are basically selfish. And selfish people do selfish things, often to one another. And for that reason there is a ton of social evil in the world. People are killing each other. Children are starving. Poverty, illiteracy, homelessness—take your pick, they’re all out there; sexual slavery, genocide, drug abuse... The world is full of bad things. But they’re often preventable. And your generation knows that. Your generation cares. And that compassion can drive you to do great things, good things for the right reasons. Don’t let that slip away.

Keep following the dream of a better world. Keep volunteering at shelters. Keep giving to charities. Keep shopping at socially aware businesses. Keep writing letters to the editor of your local paper about the injustice you see and the opportunities to fix it. Keep planning your careers and families around the idea that your life matters not just to you, but to the entire world. Keep starting socially aware businesses. And above all else, keep positive. Don’t get dragged down by news of defeat. Don’t sink to the level of violence and deceit that you’re trying to abolish. Don’t give in to the money. “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil…” You and your generation can change the world, but you have to commit yourself, your whole life to that idea.

Be the difference

I think the world needs to change, don’t you? Children are starving. Disease, treatable disease, is rampant. People are homeless, illiterate and poverty-stricken. Sexual slavery still exists. So does war and AIDS and a host of other evils. And the greatest instrument on the planet for doing something about it is us. Me. You. We are the ones tasked with changing the world, and we have everything we need to get it done. God gave us the instruction manual for global change (The Bible). And he gave us an example to follow (Jesus Christ). And he gave us the resource to carry it out (The Holy Spirit). And he gave us the responsibility to do it (The Great Commission). So we really are without excuse.

The world is broken and God has made it clear that you are his plan for fixing it. It’s not about the money. It’s not about the time. It’s not about the resources it takes to make something happen; the brains, the talents and abilities. It’s about your commitment. God will use ordinary people to do extraordinary things, but you’ve got to be ready!

Listen, I want to change the world. I want my life to be the difference between what is and something better. According to God I am part of the thin red line between heaven and hell, and since it’s the blood of Jesus that makes that line red, I take that responsibility seriously. And the odds are that I’m not going to be the guy that cures cancer, but I’m pretty sure I can accomplish something, not only because the Bible says I can, but because my life is like that story about the little boy and the starfish:

Once there was a storm, and the storm left a particular beach covered with starfish. A man was walking along the beach looking at the devastation when he noticed a small boy picking up the starfish and throwing them back into the ocean one by one. The man said to the boy, “Why are you doing that? There are thousands of starfish here and you’ll only get to a few before they die. You really won’t make any difference.” And the boy picked up another starfish, threw it into the surf and replied, “I made a difference to that one.”

There are billions of people on this earth. What difference can I make? I don’t know. But each and every person whose life I can help change is a person who matters. Everyone counts. So if I only change one, isn’t that something worth doing?

I heard another story about a woman who lives on the East Coast. I can’t remember where exactly, but she grew up in somewhere in that mess that used to be Yugoslavia. As a little girl her life was torn apart by the genocidal war between the Serbians and Croatians and Bosnians. I don’t think the war has a name, but the words “Ethnic Cleansing” were used a lot. Anyway, I can’t imagine being a child in a war zone, how that must feel. Bullets and blood and bombs going off, and fear and violence everywhere… not much to be happy about. Then one day, at Christmas, she got a shoebox from a group called Samaritan’s Purse. Seems silly really. I mean, what difference could someone in America make by filling a shoebox with toys and mailing it to some random kid who might be gang raped and butchered before they get to open it? Well, this woman opened that shoebox, and inside she found hope. Someone had put a gospel tract inside the shoebox along with the requisite toys, and reading about Jesus, she found hope. Today she works full-time for Samaritan’s Purse, sending thousands of shoeboxes to kids all over the planet. The irony is that whoever put that shoebox together probably has no idea what a difference they made!

But this isn’t about starfish or shoeboxes, this is about you. This is about your life. You see, God didn’t give the responsibility of changing the world to me alone. He gave it to everyone who calls themselves a follower of Jesus. He wants us all to be committed. He wants an army of His children on the beach throwing back starfish together. Too many of us are strolling along with our hands in our pockets admiring the view when we should be actively engaged in creating a better world. He’s given you everything you need to be the difference, to stand firm, to be the thin red line of hope. What are you waiting for?

Ways to create change:
1) Draw near to God (We are called to BE the difference, not just MAKE a difference.)

a. Memorize one verse each week.
b. Read your Bible through in a year.
c. Fast for a day.
d. Take notes during church and talk about it over lunch with someone.
e. Journal (Blog about God to God. And keep it private!

2) Volunteer (Churches, shelters, etc, always need help.)
3) Make your major matter (Know how your career makes a difference.)
4) Tithe (Give 10%, save 10%, live on the rest. It’s God’s plan, but you can hear it from pretty much any financial advisor regardless of their religious leanings.)
5) Write a letter (… to the local paper, your congressman, interest groups, etc.)
6) Vote (Let your voice be heard!)
7) Educate your children (Give them a voice worth listening to!)
8) Shop at socially aware businesses (i.e., Tom’s Shoes.)
9) Recycle (Duh.)
10) Pray (I mean REALLY pray, not just once-in-a-while-if-I-remember pray.)
11) Clean out your clutter (See how much you can donate to Salvation Army or Good Will.)
12) Give generously to charity (She needs it.)
13) Share Jesus with someone (Not only is it expected, it is also the most loving thing you can do for someone.)
14) Buy eco-friendly. (Yes, it will probably cost more, but so what?)
15) Go on a mission trip. (LIFE is a mission trip, but we don’t think of it that way often enough.)
16) Give random street people gift certificates to McDonald’s (They can’t spend it on alcohol or drugs that way!)
17) Go to a protest. (Or protest a protest…)
18) Conserve resources (What’s YOUR carbon footprint?)
19) Plant a tree. (Earth Day 2009 is on April 22.)
20) Bring someone with you into any of the above mentioned activities. (2 Timothy 2:2)

Faith and Sound Doctrine

I find so many of us as Christians today disparaging the importance of theology and am grieved. In truth, my heart is cleft by the willful ignorance and outright rebellion against learning sound doctrine. After all, faith without sound doctrine is faith without foundation. Yet that is where millions of us find ourselves today. Instead of applying ourselves (heart, soul, mind and strength) to the study of God’s direct revelation—the Word of God—we choose instead to rely on personal experience to interpret who He is. Though God has given us the Bible as a telescope, “to see Him as He longs to be seen,” we look instead through the kaleidoscope of thoughts and feelings that swirl around us and see wonderful and entertaining patterns which we label “God,” but is at best only a pale shadow of who He really is, and many times is a complete distortion of the truth. As one theologian put it, “God made man in His image, and man is returning the favor.”

Instead of developing a Biblical worldview, we develop a chimeric understanding of reality built from a combination of desires and opinions and fears we experience as we are buffeted by the storms of life raging around us. When faced with hard or even merely moderately difficult decisions we rarely say, “The Bible says…” More often we are inclined to spew out such gems as, “Well, I think…” or “I feel…” or “I believe…” and then we go on our merry way. Who cares what I think/feel/believe?! As followers of Jesus Christ, the only opinion that truly matters is the Lord’s! Of course, ultimately we will have to incorporate our thoughts, feelings and beliefs into our decisions. They are, after all part of who we are and were created to be by the same God we’re blessed to follow. My point is that those things must first be tempered by prolonged exposure to the Word of God.

Indeed, that we should have a deep and abiding concern for sound doctrine is evident both implicitly and explicitly in scripture. Implicitly we can see the “messenger formulas” given hundreds of times throughout the Old Testament which point out that it is not just another person speaking, but the Lord himself. (A messenger formula is the phrase used to describe the source of a particular message, i.e., “Thus says the Lord.”) In the New Testament we see the Lord Jesus Himself quoting scripture repeatedly in His teaching and most poignantly in His confrontation with Satan during a time of temptation (Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-13). As a child He is lost for three days and later found in the temple debating scholars who were, “astounded at His understanding and His answers.” (Luke 2:41-50) And one might be tempted to argue that He was God and therefore theology was moot for Him. True, but He also left us a record of Himself continually throughout His human existence engaging people with sound doctrine, in the temple, the marketplace, the street, and even in the wilderness. He wanted His followers to understand Him that way! Beyond that we have the example of Jesus’ apostles at the beginning of the church. Their earliest activities as described in Acts 2:42, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching…”

Explicitly, we have both what the Bible says about itself as well as the admonitions it contains to pay attention to what we believe. In the Old Testament we find God telling His people in no uncertain terms, “These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7) God is creating a culture there based on the understanding of His Word. Then in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul says, “Be conscientious about yourself and your teaching; persevere in these things, for by doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Timothy 4:16) And, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15) In context we find a young pastor fighting bad doctrine—poor theology—in his church. Paul’s answer? Sound doctrine. And where does that come from? “For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints, and marrow; it is a judge of the ideas and thoughts of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) “so My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and will prosper in what I send it [to do].” (Isaiah 55:11) “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

And maybe you’re reading this now and saying, “I don’t need theology, I just need Jesus.” That’s great, but which Jesus? I mean, there’s a lot of people out there who agree with that simple statement; Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Science Church, Moonies and Unitarians to name a few. Unfortunately, unless you want to buy into universalism—the idea that EVERYONE goes to heaven—somebody has the wrong Jesus. Jim Jones loved Jesus too. Want some of his Kool-Aid? David Koresh loved Jesus so much he thought he was Jesus. Didn’t turn out so well for his followers (Branch Davidians), but that’s just more theology you don’t need… or is it?

Listen, everyone is a theologian. We all have opinions about who God is and what He’s like. Even atheists have theological ideas. The question I think we need to focus on is where do those ideas come from? Have we thought them through? Muslims call Christians, “Followers of the Book,” meaning we live according to what the Bible says, but do we? When we pooh-pooh theology, complain when a pastor teaches deeper thoughts about God instead of “Ten Steps to Better Living,” or whatever other “me first” sermon we want to hear, are we really doing ourselves any favors? I don’t think so. Next time, instead of whining about how boring it was to hear about the authority and inerrancy of scripture, or the importance of Baptism, or the person and work of the Holy Spirit, perhaps we should focus on how amazing it is that we serve a God who cares enough to let us hear and understand so much about Him and His world.

When a husband bears his soul to his wife, should she ask him to be more relevant to her and turn up the television, or praise him for his openness and apply herself to understanding him all the more? Isn’t intimacy desirable in marriage? Yet we, the Bride of Christ, don’t want to hear much about Him. We want to hear how he’ll bless us and make our lives easier, but we really don’t want to invest much time in understanding who He really is. It’s as if we’d rather be married to a vending machine. We’d put it in the attic (so our guests wouldn’t know it’s there), then when circumstances warrant, say for instance, when we needed a better parking spot, we could put in a little prayer and out pops a miracle! And we wonder why our faith is so weak, why our lives don’t reflect the joy we were promised, why the “abundant life” for which Christ came seems so flat… We lack sound doctrine. We treat it like spiritual broccoli. We live only a shallow faith, one built on the shifting sand of personal experience, and we wonder why life isn’t better than it seems.

Maybe it is. Maybe it is and we don’t know it because we’re spiritually malnourished. Faith without sound doctrine is faith without foundation.

Dalai Bama

I wake up this morning in the Obama Nation. What will the next four years bring? To listen to the Republicans, socialism and left wing extremism on an unprecedented level, increased taxes, more abortion clinics, the complete undermining of Biblical marriage, etc... Obamunism. To listen to the other side, Obama is, as Louis Farrakhan put it, "the Messiah." Seriously. Barak Obama is nothing if not charismatic, and his followers, in my experience, tend to elevate him to the status of religious figurehead. They wax eloquent about him to the point that you begin to wonder if he puts his pants on one leg at a time or if they just materialize around his waist. I suspect the truth is somewhere in between. He'll start out fairly centrist, then lean increasingly to the left. And there WILL be change. Of that there can be little doubt. The Dems not only took the Presidency, they also increased their leads in both houses of congress. That means that, for better or worse, Obama has tons of friendly support with which to accomplish whatever it is he sets about doing.

Truthfully, I could care less what the man does. (And what will the NAACP do now that "The Man" is black, I wonder? You can't go blaming 'the man' when you are the man, right?) I mean, I'll have an opinion about government policies, and I might even share that opinion through an opinion piece in a newspaper, or an e-mail to my congressman or senator, but the reality I care about is much closer to home. As awesome as it must be to influence 300 million people with the strke of a pen, I'm much more comfortable talking to people face to face. And no matter what the president does from his office in Washington, I'll be ready here to help people deal with the reality of day to day living in a broken world.

Oh yes, the world IS broken, and no president, not even Barak Obama can change that. As Dallas Willard once wrote, "Human problems cannot be solved by human means." And that's the real problem here. Millions of people are looking to a new president to solve the problems in their lives, but what everyone seems to miss is that only Jesus can satisfy the lnging in their souls. Better health care, free gas and a winning lottery ticket in every mailbox just won't get it done. It might make you a bit more comfortable, but for how long? Until the next divorce? The next bankrupcty? The next human tragedy that touches your life? Jesus is the Messiah. The president is just a man. Unfortunately, I think a lot of Americans have forgotten that.

He's just a regular guy, people!

I voted this morning, but to be honest, I didn't vote for either McCain or Obama. So I'm really not trying to influence who anyone votes for or make a political statement one way or the other about either of the two major party candidates. While piddling about the internet I stumbled across these posters, however, and I do have to say that they really caught my attention. Why? Because I've seen way to many Obama supporters who have elevated him as a candidate not based on merit, but because they bought the hype that he's going to change everything tomorrow, and we'll all have better jobs and insurance and world peace will break out instantly, poverty will end overnight, adult illiteracy will stop now, and dogs and cats will get along and I won't have to pay my mortgage anymore and magic fairies will take out the trash for me every week! Hallelujah! Amen and amen!

Gimme a break! Honestly. I don' care who you vote for, but at least have the common sense to understand that Barak Obama is just another man. On the upside he's thoughtful, intelligent, and charismatic. And I LOVE that he's there at the end of every single one of his ads that I've seen. Good or bad, "I'm Barak Obama and I approved this message." There's an element of integrity to that which is seriously lacking on the Republican side who's ads are backed by various political action committees and private interest groups, but rarely by McCain himself. (Of course, I can only speak from my experience here. It is possible that this argument would be entirely undermined by a greater sampling of political ads on both sides, although I'm pretty sure the surgeon general would agree that that would be bad for my health.) Anywho, on the downside, Mr. Obama is given to questionable judgment in who he associates with, makes outrageous claims he can't possibly back up, is determined to undermine Biblical marriage and thinks its okay to kill babies before they're born. Now, given that we already have a strongly democratic senate and congress, I expect that the nation will change pretty radically in the near future. But not because Obama walk on water. His pooh stinks like everyone else's. And the change he represents isn't necessarily for the good.

Anyway... I don't want this to be an anti-Obama diatribe, I just wish his followers would be a little less blinded by the glitz and glam of his 750 BILION dollar campaign. I could just as easily hash the McCain campaign for entirely different reasons. It just so happens that I didn't stumble across any really cool anti-McCain posters.

When will we wake up to our desperate need for stronger third party voting?

Oil-industry profits

So, Exxon Mobile Corporation reported nearly $15 BILLION in quarterly profits this week. Not bad. In fact, in the history of mankind, in the history of business, since the first cavemen traded rocks and sticks, nobody anywhere in any industry has ever reported bigger profits. And whose record did Exxon break? Its own. When was the previous record reported? Last quarter. Yes, in the past six months Exxon has made over $25 BILLION for its shareholders. Not bad. And, of course, those profits are completely unrelated to the price of gas. Just ask the company. For the past year they (and every other major oil corp) been telling anyone who'll listen (using media interviews, paid lobbyists, and advertising) that there is no correlation between their industry-wide record profits and the price of gas at the pump. And all this time I thought the companies that bought, processed, distributed and sold the product had something to do with setting the price of their product. Silly me. I guess I need to take a few more business courses. In the meantime, I'm gonna go get jacked at the pump again by whoever does actually make money on gas...