The sage of the "Runaway Bride" continues. Tonight on MSNBC the debate was whether she needs help. She doesn't need help, she got wet feet, ran away, made up a story to get herself out of a jam like anyone else would and got caught. Now her story dominates the airwaves. I'm losing faith by the minute in our print and TV news media.

I am a man of many pet peeves. My latest is those who have to be involved in everything, and then they complain about it. "Oh, I have to drive three hours again this weekend for my friend's cousin's wedding..." "I can't believe how busy I am, Parish Council tonight, Yoga tomorrow, youth group on Wednesday, Thursday night out with the girls, then a weekend away..." DON'T GO TO THE WEDDING, DON'T HAVE TO BE AT EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS, STAY HOME AND ENJOY TIME TO YOURSELF! LET YOUR KIDS KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO SPEND TIME WITH MOM AND DAD AND NOT BEING SHUFFLED FROM DAY CARE TO DAY CARE AND NURSERY TO NURSERY.

It all stems from our cultural attitude where we base our worth on what we do and what we are involved in. And it's no different in the church as we bear that old "Protestant work ethic" where our value comes not from being a child of God but what we do for Him. I'm always struck by the paradigm that, and I fall into this trap as well, we say we are saved by grace but our actions once we are saved indicate we still believe in a works-based salvation. We feel if we don't do the right things, God will forsake us, if we aren't involved in the right ministries, our salvation will be lost, if we don't get our act together, we will no longer be one of God's children and he can't or won't use us until we get all of the junk out of our lives. What strikes me is that this thinking is so antithetical to how the New Testament reads. We have inherent dignity, value, and worth simply because God created us and loves us and died on the cross for us to bring us back into relationship with Him. It's good to get all the junk out of our lives and live as children of light, but it doesn't make God love us any more, He can't! It doesn't mean our salvation will be lost, that can't happen! My good friend John continues to tell me how messed up our theology is, and he says he has never seen it so bad as the Fox Valley. Not fully understanding what he means or the theology of different areas around the country or world, I can't comment, but I tend to trust his opinion quite often.