The things I get myself into...

I've given up Twitter for Lent. Instead of doing ANYTHING ELSE PRODUCTIVE, like reading books, doing photography, painting my bathroom, paying full attention to movies, writing the next great American novel and going on a book tour, doing Tai Chi, learning Kurdish, curing cancer, or literally anything else, I've taken up idly reading Facebook instead of idly reading Twitter. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe I should get one of those blogs everyone talks about.

Yesterday, I saw a news article about a restaurant owner in Florence, a teeny town south of Jackson, who bought a $170,000, 110-foot-tall cross to put in front of his restaurant. I commented with a little bit of surprise, saying that I hoped I'd put that money to better use if I had it. I was mollywhopped by a hundred different people, y'all. It's a witness for Christ, it's a beacon of hope, it's none of my business how he spends his money, he's a good man who wants to do good for his community, how do I know how many homeless children he's fed, et cetera. I also got a "your stupid" and "how much do you spend on pedicures?" It's "you're" and $40 when it's to the point where my feet look diseased.

This morning, I saw this article on the same page about a mega-church (do not get me started) pastor who wants to spend $65 million on a private jet for himself to spread the gospel across the world. Oh man, the comments on that post. That's greedy. That man is not bringing glory to Christ. That money should go to starving children. That money should go to the poor, the homeless, the needy, TO THE HUMBLE COMMENTER.

Oh, okay.

The scale of money is the same, presumably. The restaurant owner is extremely wealthy. He owns a popular restaurant and a ton of property all over the state of Mississippi and spends $7,000 on lavish deer hunts. He solicited donations for the cross because heaven forbid he use his own money. He's a millionaire! Now he has a giant cross! Who cares how he spends his money? The mega-church preacher is using donations solicited by his millions of congregants all over the world to facilitate his travels. Obvs he can't fly coach, that'd be inconvenient. He's a billionaire! He wears Armani suits! Who cares how he spends his money?

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE? I seriously want to know. I mean, I see the glaring difference that the restaurant owner is white and the mega-church pastor is black but I dare not say it, heavens no. I see that $170,000 is a lot less than $65 million, but again, the ratio of wealth is the same.

I don't know, man. The restaurant owner may fool his followers into believing he's building a cross as a monument to Christ, but I think it's a businessman advertising his business using Jesus as a marketing tool. The mega-church pastor may fool his followers into believing his plane is a way to spread the gospel to more people, but I think mega-churches and billionaire pastors are gross as hell to begin with.

Y'all enlighten me.