It's Easter, and you're gonna have to serve somebody!

Easter Sunday, April 12, 2009

I was hoping Barack and Michelle Obama would be attending National Presbyterian Church in Washington DC, where they would hear one of the great Christian theologians, Dr. Earl F. Palmer (right). They opted for St. John's Episcopal Church, a good second choice.

I opted to wait patiently to hear the Fox News Special, the Easter message of Rick Warren (left), author of The Purpose Driven Life, scheduled to air at 10:00 am PST. As you will remember, Rick Warren gave the invocation at Barack Obamas' innaugeration to the presidency.

His message was so timely that it must appear here.

Pastor Warren spoke of the decision that all people make, to serve somebody. He cited the words of Bob Dylan's song, "...you may serve the devil, or you may serve the Lord, but you're gonna have to serve somebody...".

The sermon crescendoed into a call to all believers, "You have to decide what is most important in your life".

Suddenly, as if it were planned for that moment, Fox News preempted the Easter Service with a Fox News Alert: "...we are now getting reports that Captain Richard Phillips has been freed...." Richard Phillips (lower right) is the captain of the Maersk ocean freighter that was hijacked by Somalian pirates.

Thus endeth the lesson. The 2-hour Fox News Special was preempted after 30 minutes by a Fox News Alert which took 1-1/2 hours to tell us, "...the captain has been freed...".

Fox did not return to the Easter program special. Instead, they decided what was most important in my life.

Within minutes, my son called to wish us a happy Easter and to share his plans of spending the afternoon with his inlaws.

In the middle of our conversation a text message interrupted the call. The text message was from Verizon Wireless. "...(my) bill is ready to view on line...(my) balance is $193.69...dial #PMT SEND to pay."

Apparently Verizon Wireless believes the most important thing to do at 11:00 am on Easter Morning is to send everyone a phone alert to pay their cell phone bill.

Yes, I have to choose to serve sombody. But I resent it when you (Fox News and Verizon), attempt to make that decision for me.

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