Mixed Messages?

This morning I was on my way to the office after running a couple of errands. As I drove across town I was behind a white Dodge Caravan through a handful of traffic lights and all-way stops. You know what we do in this situation—we read and reread everything that's on the back of vehicle in front of us. Sometimes the back is covered with interesting messages; sometimes we get nothing but the tag, the make and model and the dealer. My first thought this morning was that the van was rather sparse on what it offered. In the upper left-hand corner of the rear window was the image I've recreated here, with the message "God Keeps His Promises." In the upper right-hand corner of the window as another image, that of a young person kneeling with clasped hands before the cross. In the middle of the window, unnoticed at first behind the dark glass, was one of those yellow "Support Our Troops" ribbons. Beneath the window, in black letters on the van's white paint was a web address: makemoneynorisk.com.

And I began to think, irreverently perhaps, about what God's promises have to do with makemoneynorisk.com or what that web site has to do with our becoming like a child before the cross. Perhaps even more irreverently, what do God's promises and humbling ourselves before the teachings and sacrifice of Christ have to do with faithful troops and pointless war? And finally, if our troops are indeed fighting for our freedom in some bankrupt oil-rich country half way around the world, what is the relationship between that freedom "won" or "preserved" and makemoneynorisk.com?

I entertain myself with such thoughts as I drive across town.