File this under the “oh-no!” file. It turns out that McDonald’s keeps records on us. Every time you buy something at McDonald’s, they record the transaction. They then build a “dossier” on you. And then build algorithms to predict when you’re coming in next, what you will want, and even give you a quality grade as a customer.

A journalist from Wired magazine who lives in California asked for his dossier. Apparently, in California, you have the right to ask for any data a company keeps on you. I doubt that’s true here in Florida. But anyway, this guy, Reese Rogers, asked for his records. And, at the second window please, they came out with a supersized order. They gave him a 515-page report, just about him! That’s the size of the dossier the FBI kept on John Lennon back in the ‘70’s. That’s a lot of McNuggets!

My first recollection of McDonald’s comes from a break my grandparents would take on their way from Altoona, PA to a little town called Nunda, NY where my Uncle Frank lived. We would drive through the sometimes-treacherous mountains of Western Pennsylvania (beautiful in any season), and halfway in between, we would drive through a little town called St. Mary’s. And right by a McDonald’s, which my grandfather was incapable of driving past. I loved it! My otherwise very cheap Grandad would actually splurge and get a Big Mac meal, and one for me, too. McDonald’s was part of the best days of my life.

Now, those days predated data farming. We lived in the anonymity of a cash society. But if somebody kept a record of how many Mc-somethings I’ve eaten over the years…oh dear! That would add up to more than 515 pages I’m afraid.

What if they kept a record of everything we did? Every little thing we’ve bought. Like Target – what kind of profile could they build about me? Wait, it turns out they already do. I’ve always wondered why the lights in the dog food aisle lit up when I walked in the door!

The Book of Revelation, and Daniel, and even Jesus in Mathew 12, mention records being kept of our wrongdoing. Jesus spoke specifically about “idle words,” but Revelation is much broader. Like every French fry. That, taken by itself, is a very scary thought. That God remembers, and will hold against us, all our crimes and misdemeanors? But…Hebrews 8:12 says that God will forgive our wickedness and will remember our sins “no more.” Isaiah 43:25 tells us that God “blots out” our sins and remembers them no more. I could go on. My point is that the records seem to be kept by the Devil. The records seem to be kept for evil. Kind of like the dossiers above.

God is omniscient. That is, God knows everything. And God is eternal. So, it would follow that God knows everything in the past and future. And yet, somehow, God chooses to put our sins “behind His back” (Isaiah 38:17). We keep our memories, we keep our guilt, and our bodies remember the calories unfortunately, but God chooses to forgive and forget our transgressions. This is the great news of the Gospel! God makes us new creatures. We are freed of our guilt because of Jesus. There is only one line in our dossiers in heaven. It reads “Redeemed.”

Eternally grateful,

Craig

God does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:10-14 (NIV)