Here are a few of my all time favorite internet pictures

I went to the grocery to purchase some items for our kitchen. While there I was forced to stand in line before I could pay for my stuff. The ladies in front of me appeared to have all the time in the world. They were older and they wanted to talk and laugh with the cashier. The lady behind me was obviously was in a hurry. She huffed and puffed and finally went to a nearby line that appeared to have faster service.
While standing there it hit me that everybody has a day like that. Every one of us has a day where:
-We are in a hurry or when we have all the time in the world
-We are angry and not nice to be around or a day when we want to talk and visit
-We are annoying to others or we are entertaining to others
-We are tired or when we are full of energy
-We are the model of Christianity or we are all that is wrong with religion
I could go on and on, but I am sure you get the point. Everyone has one of those types of days.
Here is the tough part of that truth. We must resist the temptation to view a person through the lens of one good day or of one bad day. At least I know that I must face this reality all the time. I can easily view someone as a glorious person because of one experience or I can easily view someone as awful because of an encounter.
So the next time I meet someone who is “rubbing me the wrong way” I need to remind myself that this might just be a one time thing for them and I have probably been like that myself once in a while.

I heard this illustration years ago and retyped it word for word. I am not the type of preacher who can read long articles in sermons very well so I have never used it. I thought it might be good to share it here:

My brother-in-law opened the bottom drawer of my sister’s bureau and lifted out a tissue wrapped package. “This,” he said, “is not a slip. This is lingerie.” He discarded the tissue and handed me the slip. It was exquisite; silk, handmade and trimmed with a cobweb of lace. The price tag with an astronomical figure on it was still attached. “Jan bought this the first time we went to New York, at least 8 or 9 years ago. She never wore it. She was saving it for a special occasion.
Well, I guess this is the occasion.” He took the slip from me and put it on the bed with the other clothes we were taking to the mortician. His hands lingered on the soft material for a moment, then he slammed the drawer shut and turned to me. “Don’t ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day you’re alive is a special occasion.”
I remembered those words through the funeral and the days that followed when I helped him and my niece attend to all the sad chores that follow an unexpected death. I thought about them on the plane returning to California from the Midwestern town where my sister’s family lives. I thought about all the things that she hadn’t seen or heard or done. I thought about the things that she had done without realizing that they were special.
I’m still thinking about his words, and they’ve changed my life. I’m reading more and dusting less. I’m sitting on the deck and admiring the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden. I’m spending more time with my family and friends and less time in committee meetings.
Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experience to savor, not endure. I’m trying to recognize these moments now and cherish them. I’m not “saving” anything; we use our good china and crystal for every special event such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, the first camellia blossom. I wear my good blazer to the market if I feel like it. My theory is if I look prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of groceries without wincing. I’m not saving my good perfume for special parties; clerks in hardware stores and tellers in banks have noses that function as well as my party going friends’. “Someday” and “one of these days” are losing their grip on my vocabulary. If it’s worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now.
I’m not sure what my sister would have done had she known that she wouldn’t be here for the tomorrow we all take for granted. I think she would have called family members and a few close friends. She might have called a few former friends to apologize and mend fences for past squabbles. I like to think she would have gone out for a Chinese dinner, her favorite food. I’m guessing. I’ll never know. It’s those little things left undone that would make me angry if I knew that my hours were limited. Angry because I put off seeing good friends whom I was going to get in touch with someday. Angry because I hadn’t written certain letters that I intended to write one of these days. Angry and sorry that I didn’t tell my husband and daughter often enough how much I truly love then.
I’m trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter and luster to our lives. And every morning when I open my eyes, I tell myself that it is special. Every day, every minute, every breath truly is … a gift from God.
— Source: Ann Wells, “Something to Think About”, Los Angeles Times.

I am not preaching on money or stewardship in the very near future, but I ran across two stories in my illustration file that made me smile today. Here are two funny stories about the Church and money:

There were two men shipwrecked on this island. The minute they got on to the island one of them started screaming and yelling, “We’re going to die! We’re going to die! There’s no food! No water! We’re going to die!”
The second man was propped up against a palm tree and acting so calmly it drove the first man crazy. “Don’t you understand? We’re going to die!!”
The second man replied, “You don’t understand, I make $100,000 a week.”
The first man looked at him quite dumbfounded and asked, “What difference does that make?!? We’re on an island with no food and no water! We’re going to DIE!!!”
The second man answered, “You just don’t get it. I make $100,000 a week and I tithe ten percent on that $100,000 a week. My pastor will find me!”

A one-dollar bill met a twenty-dollar bill and said, “Hey, where have you been? I haven’t seen you around here much.” The twenty answered, “I’ve been hanging out at the casinos, went on a cruise and did the rounds on the ship, back to the United States for a while, went to a couple of baseball games, to the mall, that kind of stuff. How about you?”
The one dollar bill said, “You know, same old stuff – church, church, church.