I wore my NY Football Giants cap and sweatshirt to the grocery store the other day. ("Football" used to be necessary to distinguish the team that ran and passed the pigskin from the baseball team that used to play in the Polo Grounds) It actually takes some courage to go out dressed like that in the heart of Carolina Panthers territory, to say nothing of going public about my support for a team that has played so poorly over the past month that the NJ meadowlands smell bad enough to be offensive all the way down here in the Blue Ridge. When I got to the check out the young man took one look at me and--smiled! "Hey, you're a Giants fan" he called out. Only since a guy named Y.A. was completing passes to Kathy Lee's future husband.
The checkout clerk enthusiastically informed me he will be going to see the Giants play in person on December 27 at Giants Stadium, having won five free tickets to the season's finale (And considering the Giant's playoff chances, I do mean finale). The only problem the clerk had was affording his "free" game. It seems that while the tickets are free, he has to fly himself and his four guests from North Carolina to New Jersey, and that's not cheap. It wasn't the first time I had heard about a free offer that cost a lot to accept. Sitting in a drawer somewhere in my house is a letter describing a host of "free" vacations I could be eligible for. But, in fine print that I used to be able to read, but now struggle to decipher even with magnification, each one of the seven vacation choices details little things like "processing fees," ""taxes," and "port fees," that make the free vacations anything but free. In fact, they are so expensive I don't think I can afford to accept any of the "free" offers.
I reflected to the checkout clerk and the woman standing next to me in line that the only really free offer I knew of was salvation. And salvation really isn't free, it's just that Jesus has already paid the price for us, in full. There are no surprise costs, or fees hidden in some fine print in the Bible. Jesus has personally taken care of everything necessary for us to be saved. To which the woman responded, "Praise God!" Salvation really is the one free offer we can't afford to refuse.
The checkout clerk enthusiastically informed me he will be going to see the Giants play in person on December 27 at Giants Stadium, having won five free tickets to the season's finale (And considering the Giant's playoff chances, I do mean finale). The only problem the clerk had was affording his "free" game. It seems that while the tickets are free, he has to fly himself and his four guests from North Carolina to New Jersey, and that's not cheap. It wasn't the first time I had heard about a free offer that cost a lot to accept. Sitting in a drawer somewhere in my house is a letter describing a host of "free" vacations I could be eligible for. But, in fine print that I used to be able to read, but now struggle to decipher even with magnification, each one of the seven vacation choices details little things like "processing fees," ""taxes," and "port fees," that make the free vacations anything but free. In fact, they are so expensive I don't think I can afford to accept any of the "free" offers.
I reflected to the checkout clerk and the woman standing next to me in line that the only really free offer I knew of was salvation. And salvation really isn't free, it's just that Jesus has already paid the price for us, in full. There are no surprise costs, or fees hidden in some fine print in the Bible. Jesus has personally taken care of everything necessary for us to be saved. To which the woman responded, "Praise God!" Salvation really is the one free offer we can't afford to refuse.
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