Entitlements

Entitlements

Theology in the Trenches

By Kathleen Kjolhaug

We work hard for our money. Sometimes the hours are exhausting, but we both love what we do…most of the time. It used to be that we’d get the paychecks, deposit them, and sit down to pay the bills. We knew when the money was coming in and going out as well as to whom we chose to give it. We took ownership in spending that which we’d earned.

Now, even though we still get paid, the money is automatically deposited into our account. We don’t see it, we don’t touch the check, and we don’t deposit it physically. Within seconds, transactions are completed and the money appears as a credit. Just as magically, it disappears as we’ve signed over the debit rights on certain bills. This seems to work as a matter of convenience, but what I’ve noticed is that speed begets speed. The faster it flows in, the faster it flows out.

Enter place of business and the disappearing act begins. Sometimes during the transactions, the clerk doesn’t even require my signature…after all…it’s just under twenty-five dollars. Lately I’ve noticed they have changed their tune to, “It’s just under forty so you need not sign”… as if it were mere pennies.

It used to be that when my signature was required; they’d at least ask for my driver’s license in order to cross reference signatures or perhaps look on the back of the card to see if it remotely matched. But lately, nobody even looks to see if the signature on my card looks like the one on the transaction slip. The faster the sale, the more people are pushed through the line, the more money there is to be made.

This past weekend we were raking up a few leaves and needed bags in which to place them. I was chosen to make the run. As I didn’t want to meander through the big “convenience” store, I chose another business which had recently been the victim of a security breech. As the clerk swiped my card, I asked her if anyone was going to swipe all my money.

She responded, “Oh no, we fixed that. But I sure wish they would enable the electronic chip system because that would really secure it. They don’t have that up and running yet.”

That was reassuring. “Not.”

Speaking of swiping…I recently took note of suspiciously peculiar behavior. On the accounts in which we agreed to have payments taken out, and the rates take a hike, unapologetically speaking, they simply take more out. It appears they are entitled to it. Or at least that’s what I figure because nobody seems to feel the need to ask my permission. After all, “It’s just under six hundred.”

What a crazy world we live in, fast and furious by all accounts. But that would make sense according to Hebrews 13:14. “For this world is not our home; we are looking forward to our city in Heaven which is yet to come.”  Amen.