I’m writing this post at 8:30 at night on Thanksgiving. In a little over an hour I’ll be heading to bed only to have to get up at 3:30 in order to be at work by 5am. That’s right - I have to start selling phones at 5 am on “Black Friday.” This is a day that I’ve faced for the past few years with mixed emotions as a Christian sales representative. Let me explain.

Black Friday is usually a day of excitement because it’s a very good day of sales. The early Fall season is notoriously slow in retail sales. And this year is no exception. I’ve endured a number of long, slow and some times payless days. So to finally have a day that is nearly guaranteed good sales is exciting. Obviously, it’s exciting financially but it’s also exciting because of the fast pace of the day. On Black Friday there is barely time to eat. I’ve often returned an hour later to my half-eaten Chick-fil-a sandwich only to find it cold and soggy. On Black Friday there is alot of caffeine, the sleeves are rolled up, and the tie is loosened. Reps come ready and excited to be working. There is an excited energy that we share.

But eventually that excitement has to face the reality that I’m a cog in the machine churning and feeding consumerism. Every Black Friday I’m faced with at least one customer that has lost all sense of buying responsibility. It’s the kid that just dropped $150 on a pair of Jordan’s and now is spending $300 for the latest phone. It’s parents that feed their kids’ “must haves.” Or it’s fashionable moms toting the colored purse and now the matching phone. The examples are endless.

Now I know that I’m not finally responsible for their decisions. I regularly talk people out of purchases that I think they don’t need or can’t afford, but in the end if they say, “I appreciate your advice but I still want it.” I just have to give it to them and know that I bear no responsibility for their poor decisions. I know that’s the reality. But practically speaking, as a Christian I can’t help but have a sensitive conscience to the situation because I know their decision is antithetical to my Christian convictions and worldview. Thus, practically speaking, I do feel a bit responsible because I’m obligated to let some one make a decision that I know to be wrong.

I realize this is a bit of a personal confession and this conversation brings up a host of questions. But I think it serves as a pointer to the tension in the Christian life. We are “in” the world but not “of” the world. It is the blurred line between the City of Man and the City of God that Augustine wrote of. So as I start selling phones at 5am on Black Friday, Lord willing, I will be reminded that being a cog in the machine is like being the Christian pilgrim in a foreign land.

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