A local farmer came to the conclusion that the local car dealer had profited greatly by all the add-on options that increased the price of cars sold to the hapless farmer over the years.  Then, one day, the car dealer came to the farmer to buy a cow.  In the spirit of justice, the farmer attached the following price information to the cow:

Basic cow   $500

Two-tone exterior   $45

Extra stomach   $75

Product storing compartment   $60

Straw chopper   $120

Four spigots at $10 each,   $40

Cowhide upholstery   $125

Dual horns   $15

Automatic fly swatter   $38

Fertilizer attachment   $185

TOTAL:   $1,233.00

Aren’t you glad God doesn’t charge us for all the extras He provides us in life?  You know what I mean — the beautiful sunrise and sunset, the changing color of the leaves in fall, the glory of the stars at night, the beautiful scenery ranging from the majestic mountains to the pounding surf of the ocean.  How blessed we are!  And not a single penny extra!

“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!

For His mercy endures  forever.

Oh, give thanks to the God of gods!

For His mercy endures forever.

Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords!

For His mercy endures forever:

Him who alone does great wonders,

For His mercy endures forever;

To Him who by wisdom made the heavens,

For His mercy endures forever;

To Him who laid out the earth above the waters,

For His mercy endures forever;

To Him who made great lights,

For His mercy endures forever —

The sun to rule by day,

For His mercy endures forever;

The moon and stars to rule by night,

For His mercy endures forever.”   (Psalm 139:1-9)

As you go through this day, try to be mindful of each and every blessing you enjoy from the hand of God.  It is so easy to take everything for granted.  But, how richly God has blessed us!  Praise and thanksgiving be to our Lord!

Have a great day!

Alan Smith

THE HEAD OF THE WIFE

A husband had just finished reading the book “Man Of The House” while making his commute home from work.

When he arrived home, he stormed into the house and walked directly up to his wife.  Pointing his finger in her face, he said, “From now on I want you to know that I am the man of this house and my word is law!  You are to prepare me a gourmet meal tonight, and when I’m finished eating my meal, I expect a sumptuous dessert afterward. Then, after dinner, you’re going to draw my bath so I can relax.  And when I’m finished with my bath, guess who’s going to dress me and comb my hair?”

His wife thought for a moment and responded, “The Funeral Director is my guess.”

Unfortunately, many husbands have the mistaken idea that that’s what it means to be “the head of the wife” — give orders and sit back, ready to be waited on hand and foot.  Paul, though, gave a completely different picture:

“For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior…. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” (Eph. 5:23,25)

What Paul is saying is that headship is not so much a position of privilege as it is a position of responsibility.  It is not the responsibility of the head to “lord it over” the wife, but rather to take a position of service and sacrifice.  Christ, our head, was willing to humble himself to meet our every need, even to the point of giving up his life.  He serves as the ultimate example to all of us who are husbands.

Just a few questions for you husbands to think about:  What have you given up lately for your wife?  What have you done lately that shows her how much you love her?  Are you more concerned with serving or being served?

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”

Have a great day!

Alan Smith

I love to hear stories about the humorous things children say, but this has to be one of my all-time favorites:

In a kindergarten class, there was a boy who wasn’t listening to the teacher. The teacher said to him, “Since you don’t want to listen, you sit at that table by yourself.”

After a few minutes, a little girl in class raised her hand and said, “Teacher, I don’t want to listen either. Can I sit with him?”

We may not always be willing to admit it out loud, but most of us have experienced situations where we thought to ourselves, “I don’t want to listen.”  It may have been a teacher we didn’t want to listen to, or our parents, or that co-worker who won’t seem to shut up.  “I just don’t want to listen.”

There’s a danger, though, that we may take the same approach with God. Jesus said of some of the Jews, “For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears…” (Matthew 13:15).  Basically, their attitude toward Jesus was, “We don’t want to listen.”

But, if we don’t listen, we can’t learn.  And if we don’t learn, we can’t grow.  May we all take to heart the advice of James — “Be swift to hear!” (James 1:19)

“Lord, please forgive me for those times when I have been so intent on doing things the way I wanted to do them that I closed my ears to what you had to say.  Teach me, guide me and counsel me with your wisdom.  I want to listen!  In Jesus’ name, amen.”

Have a great day!

Alan Smith

Recently, Pa was being irritable, especially regarding food. At a nearby restaurant, he stopped for a quick meal and the waiter provided a bowl of soup.

As the waiter turned away to return to the kitchen, Pa stopped him, calling: “Waiter!”

“Yes, sir, is there something wrong?”

“The soup. Taste it,” replied Pa.

“I beg your pardon, Sir?”

“Taste it.”

“But, Sir, I can assure you that the soup is excellent.”

“Taste it,” Pa persisted.

“Sir, the soup was made this morning of the finest ingredients.”

“Taste it!”

The exasperated waiter finally relented. “All right, Sir, I’ll taste it.” Then after a pause he said,  “Where is the spoon?”

To which Pa replied triumphantly, “Ah ha … ”

It doesn’t matter how good soup is, if I have no way to get the soup to my mouth, I will never be able to enjoy it.  In a similar way, it doesn’t matter how wonderful the gospel message is, if it doesn’t get to those who need it, it will never do them any good.  The Bible uses several metaphors to describe this process.  We are the “hands and feet” of Jesus.  Also, Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:7 that we are “earthen vessels” of little value that carry the far more valuable message about Jesus.  Allow me to add one more image to the list — we are God’s “spoons”!

Think about this.  Nobody eats a meal at a fine restaurant, then later raves about how nice the spoon was!  No, they may rave about how good the soup was, but no one pays much attention to the spoon.  The purpose of the spoon is merely to allow you to enjoy the soup.  In fact, you hardly even notice the spoon…..unless you don’t have one!

Our job is not to get people to notice us.  Rather, our purpose is merely to get the gospel message to as many people as possible.

“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14).

There are people around you who will never know the beauty of the story of Jesus Christ unless you’re willing to be a “spoon”!  Will you share that message with someone today?

Have a great day!

Alan Smith

There’s a popular riddle that you may have already seen, but if you haven’t, I think you’ll enjoy it.  It is said that when asked this riddle, 80% of kindergarten students got the answer, compared to 17% of Stanford university seniors.  Here’s the riddle:

 

What is greater than God, more evil than the devil, the poor have it, the rich want it, and if you eat it, you’ll die?

 

What is it??

 

Think about it and then scroll down for the answer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The answer is “nothing”.  Nothing is greater than God, nothing is more evil than the devil, the poor have nothing, the rich want nothing (I would disagree, but we’ll move on), and if you eat nothing you will die!

 

It seems so obvious.  Maybe that’s why younger children have an easier time answering it than educated adults.  As we get more educated and more sophisticated, we look for deeper answers.  But no matter how much we learn, the question, “What is greater than God?” (and anything else attached to it) will always have the same answer — “Nothing!”

 

“I will remember the works of the LORD; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.  I will also meditate on all Your work, and talk of Your deeds. Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary; Who is so great a God as our God? You are the God who does wonders…” (Psalm 77:11-14a).

Have a great day!

Alan Smith