The Pope On The Cheap

This past week I noticed somebody in our little family had bought some books from Border's as the tell-tale plastic bag was on our kitchen table. It was number one son Greg and that surprised me some because I know that fresh out of college he's still counting pennies, or should be, with the normal debts of college alumni these days.

So I pulled a book out of the bag. "Selecting The Pope", the title read. "What the . . . ?" I thought, blasphemously. Now, Greg visits church only occasionally and I've never heard him quote scripture. I'm sure becoming Pope is not among his ambitions. So why the book, I asked him.

"It only cost two dollars," he responded.

That wasn't the answer I was looking for, obviously. I can be a fan of cheap books and am easily lured into used or second hand book stores. I love those places. But I know that books require more storage space than most impulse purchases. If I bought every two-dollar hardbound book that I ran across, my house today would look like an annex of the Library of Congress.

I am a big preacher of frugality, so maybe I should again give another lesson to my sons. Here's one. Last week, my wife and I were browsing the clearance rack at the local Meijer's department store. What do I find but a clearance priced Halloween decoration--one of those yellow tapes like that police use to cordon off crime scenes, but this one said "Caution: Entering Haunted Area."

Coincidentally, I needed one of those for my Halloween yard display as my old yellow tape had come apart over the years. Cost? Twenty cents! Now there's frugality!! And something I needed too. Heck, I pick up dimes every week on the street. This cost me nothing.

Now my example of cheap spending should trump my son's . . . I guess. Unless maybe I arrive at the gates of St. Peter and one question to me is, "Other than the Bible, have you bought in your lifetime any book that discussed the Christian faith?"

"Ummmmm, no. But my son did."