If I wrote the book I could afford the stuff

There's a guy who's putting together a book of to-do lists. They're all just regular, handwritten, to-do lists by all kinds of people from several different generations, and while I can't help but thinking of the coffee table book of coffee tables on Seinfeld, I will probably buy a copy. In the meantime, read the blog and take a look at some of them!

What reminded me of this site, besides its awesome coolness, was a coupon that drifted gentle as the new-fallen snow into my mailbox this morning. It offered "FREE INSTALLATION of your next playground equipment purchase over $10,000.00!"

I added it to the pile. Underneath that card there's a sports equipment catalog. I do have a gym in my building, so I read through that one day, and found an electronic scoreboard I could own for just 7 grand. Folded around the edge of that one, the trophy and award company flyer. It has "RELIGIOUS PRIZES" written across the front in big letters and a couple of pages of little medallions with Jesus fish and trophies with Crucifixes for recognizing students' self-sacrifice. (That's not really in there, but the ad all by itself is only slightly blasphemous so I had to push it over the line!) Six Flags thinks it's a huge deal to send me a free adult admission if I get fifteen kids to sign up at $45 apiece.

My all-time favorite was an email I got while I was working in Escanaba-- "MAKE HUGE MONEY WITH A FUNDRAISING CRUISE!"

I'm constantly amazed at how big these companies think my budget is. (On the other hand, most days lately I'm amazed at how big my budget really is...)

So in honor of all my fellow shoestring youth ministers, I thought of a book we all need-- a book of ads for companies boldly advertising stuff that sells for more than the gross national product of all youthworker-land. It will make us feel better, and might even offer some perspective when we go to submit our budgets.