A Wish from a Bottle
By admin | September 4, 2010
Song of Solomon 3:3 “The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. “Have you seen the one my heart loves?”
There is an old preacher’s tale that still speaks about human relationships. A woman was walking on the beach in southern California when she spied a bottle which had washed up on shore. Picking it up, she had no sooner begun to examine it when a genie floated from its open end and appeared before her.
“I am so glad you let me out of here,” he said gratefully. I’d like to grant you any wish you might have. But I am a bit rusty, you know. I’d like to give you three, but I’ll have to limit myself to one. What can I do for you?”
The astonished woman collected her wits and then paused for a moment of thought. “I’ve always wanted a vacation in Hawaii, but since I am afraid to fly, and get seasick on ships, I have never been able to go. Now if you could build me a highway from L.A. to Honolulu, I could drive over and have the vacation of my dreams.”
The genie too, was thoughtful and somewhat frustrated. “Lady, do you know what you are asking? Putting a highway in over the Pacific Ocean would require incredible engineering. Do you have any idea of the problem of setting caissons and pilings in these kinds of waters and in this kind of depth? I’d like to help you, but maybe you’d better ask for something else.”
The woman nodded sympathetically, “Well, she said, I wanted to vacation with my husband. I think it would be good for the two of us. We’ve been married for 20 years and I still don’t understand him. I’ve read the books, attended seminars, and just when I think I have figured him out, he does something really gooberesque and I am back to square one. What makes men so competitive and distant? What makes him so controlling and arrogant? My wish is that I would like to have a complete understanding of my husband.”
A moment of silence passed between the two of them. Then the genie said, “Would that be a two-lane or a four-lane highway to Hawaii?”
One of the greatest miracles of all is when human beings can find reasons to love each other. It is very easy to find reason not to love someone or to find fault with them. It is much harder to make love last and count. Perhaps our strong desire to search out love in our relationships is the best testimony to our true faith.
Prayer:
Dear God, help me to really love people in my life and not find fault with them. Amen.
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Ain’t Life Grand
By admin | September 3, 2010
Proverbs 26:19 “…a man who deceives his neighbor (secretary) and says, ‘I was only joking.’”
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With the advent of her birthday looming over me, I decided to go to the grocery store and see what funny thing I could find there. As I was walking down the pet aisle, I spied two squeaky mice. I began laughing. The lady with the cart next to me took a long look as I began to laugh inexplicably among the dog food and the leashes. I continued to laugh through the ice cream section, the cleaning supplies, and, lastly, all the way ‘til I got to the check-out line. The lady in the check-out line at the grocery store in Pea Ridge said, “Well, Bubba, what‘cha laughin’ at?” I held up the two toy mice and she said, “If you think that’s so funny, you must have a pretty dull life.” I said, “I’m gonna’ put ‘em in a shoe box and give ‘em to my secretary tomorrow for her birthday.” The woman started laughing until tears started running down her face.
When I got home the night before Shirley’s birthday, I called Dawn Faller, the Children’s Minister. Dawn is a girlie-girl who does not like mice and I said, “Meet me in the office and pretend like I’m going to get you to wrap this box with mice in it. Then I’ll open it up, you take a good look at the fake mice that squeak, run out screaming, and then I’ll give it to Shirley.” Dawn said, “I can’t wait.”
I giggled all night in anticipation. Dawn came in and, when I got the box out, she was perfect. I didn’t realize Clint McBroom was filming the whole thing which he then put on YouTube. I came at Shirley with the box. She was hilariously terrified. She screamed, but was cornered. I held up a mouse. She covered her eyes and screamed loud enough to make the dead think it was Resurrection Day. Finally, as I held the mouse by the tail in front of her face and rubbed it against her cheek, she opened her eyes. I couldn’t stop laughing. I laughed and laughed and laughed. In the video, you hear Clint say, “Make it squeak.” And I thanked God that we don’t have to take life so seriously. Perhaps, we all need to plan for fun and funny things as a reprieve from the reality of most days.
Later on in the day, several of us took Shirley out for birthday pie. I enjoyed hearing her tell the tale of the Senior Pastor with the shoebox and the mice. I just love life and I can’t wait for my birthday to see what she pulls on me. She will have to get up p-r-e-t-t-y e-a-r-l-y in the morning to beat the squeaky mouse in the shoebox. I had told Shirley the reason I was late that morning was I was praying. She told me after it was all over, I needed to do some more praying and repenting for scaring a little, old lady like her. I laughed because I know Shirley is tough enough to go at hell with a bucket of water if she wants to.
Ain’t life grand!
Prayer: Dear God, help us to enjoy this thing called “life.” Amen. |
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Life Lessons
By admin | September 2, 2010
Ephesians 4:27 “…and do not give the devil a foothold.”
