OK, i will make one final post and hopefully we can let this thread die (since it never should have existed), let me get a couple of things straight
1. i am not mad at my wife (i was irritated), but we got it worked out (basically i am going to pick them up) it is way too long to explain here, but it looks like we are going to make it to year number 9
she understands that the very qualities that make her love me, Can be the same ones that make her worried
2. What i am about to post is the standards i hold for myself, i am in no way implying that others need to have the same standard i hold, these thoughts are mine and mine alone
3. I take providing for my wife very seriously and do not come to decisions lightly, but i am not an emotional person also and dealing with REALITY (not media portrayal of the world) picking up hitchhikers is one of the safest activities i engage in. With that being said i know there is a chance something happens and i address that below
I have been reading alot of Martin Luther King (and other books), but he talks about the story of the good samartian and he describes how the road where the guy was hurt at in the parable was one of the most dangerous parts to be in and the good samartian was taking a risk by helping him. Now yes i understand the guy was dying and that was a lot more serious, but the same concept applies to me personally. I understand the risks i take, i am not an ignorant oblivious individual, but i refuse to live my life in fear. If i die helping others that is a far greater death (IMO) than dying old in a hospital. As someone who preaches i cannot call my church family to do the things i ask them to do and live by a lesser standard. I cannot stand hypocrites and have no intention of being one. I know that i will be judged more strictly (james 3:1) and i take that very seriously, so i try to do more than i ask my church family to do. I ask them to start being more authentic and confess their sins to one another privately, i talk about my sins publicly while preaching, if i ask them to help others and have compassion on people they know in their personal life, then i will have compassion on people that i come across outside of my personal life (i.e. hitchhikers, etc.). With so much hypocrisy in Christianity and so much talk without action, so many preachers burdening their flock with loads they won't bear themselves, i cannot (and will not) be the same. I don't expect my church family or anyone else to take the risks i do, but God has taken care of me more than i could imagine, so no need for me to start worrying now.