Published on 06/24/2008

I already have a new name, anyway. So do you, if you follow Jesus.

I know where you can get gas for $2.50 a gallon this morning--pay more than $4.00 a gallon to drive to Mexico, where gas is subsidized. Fuel is selling for six pesos per liter in Tijuana, half its cost in the U.S. Diesel is even cheaper, at $2.19 a gallon.

Today's Wall Street Journal tells us about the people living in San Diego who are installing extra-large fuel tanks in pickups and other work vehicles to take advantage. Folks in Mexico aren't entirely happy about the long lines of Americans clogging their filling stations. Their government isn't too happy about subsidizing American consumers, either. Some stations have begun refusing service to non-Mexican citizens. Things are probably going to get worse before they get better.

Here's another way to pay for gas: sell your naming rights. Stadium owners have been auctioning the name of their arenas for years, with sometimes embarrassing results (remember Enron Field in Houston?). Now the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is joining the trend. The Journal is reporting that officials want to sell the stadium name to finance more than $100 million in renovations. The Coliseum hosted the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics, and is the main outdoor venue in Los Angeles. Now it will be named whatever the highest bidder wants to name it.

With two kids in college, I'm paying attention. Driving from Dallas to Brownsville is not an attractive option, and the airlines probably won't let me bring a gallon of gas back in my luggage. Just imagine the fun we'd have going through security. But naming rights to my house could be a possibility. I'm sure the neighbors wouldn't mind a large neon sign over the front door advertising our home's new name. I'm just as sure that large corporations would be excited about my idea. And I'm equally positive that Janet would be entirely supportive and encouraging. Of course, I thought the Cowboys would win another playoff game in my lifetime.

I already have a new name, anyway. So do you, if you follow Jesus. Acts 11 tells us about the first strategic advance of Christianity outside its Jewish context, in a place called Antioch of Syria. The congregation there would become the home church of Paul, the converted Pharisee. It would become the first great missionary center of the faith. It's no surprise that "the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch" (v. 26). "Christian" literally means "little Christ" or "imitator of Christ."

The most empowering thing I can do today is live up to that name. Will you join me?