Saturday, August 4, 2012

That Little Dash


As a Pastor I have walked through many cemeteries to bury the bodies of souls that have returned to the Lord. Often tombstones have only a name and two dates with the dash between them. A lot happens between the date of birth and the date of death and often the memory of those events are lost to history. 

What makes that dash meaningful?

  1. Remember that everything you have is a gift from God.
  2. Every thing you have now you will loose for you can not take it with you. Even the great kings of Egypt who tried could not.
  3. While you are in possession of what ever you have you are a steward who makes decisions on how it will be used.
  4. How you use what ever you have will determine the kind of person you are and the condition of your souls at the time of your death.
  5. You will account to God for the condition of your soul.

What you are at birth is God’s gift to you what you are at death is your gift to God. 

Make it a good gift.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

The Man in the Box


I have been watching the generation of my parents passing away one after the other. In my family there are only two left my mother and my dad’s youngest brother. Neither of them is in great condition. I have been attending the family funerals and noting each passage from this life to the next.

Standing by my father’s grave side was an eerie experience. He had been cremated and his ashes were carried to the grave site in a small thin cardboard box. The four by four grave was only about two feet deep and I watched a man from the funeral home kneel down and gently place the box of ashes in the bottom. The preacher said a prayer and it was all over.

As I contemplated that grave the thought that came to mind was, “ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” The sandy red dirt that was returned to the grave will cover the box ok but the first good rain will seep down to the box of ashes and it will dissolve and collapse. Truly all that remains of my fathers body will be mixed with the Texas earth and one day no one will be able to tell it was ever there. It is fitting to the man in the box to become one with the earth. 

Monday, July 30, 2012

Loans $$$


As children, our daughters received allowances to learn how to manage money and to buy their own treats. When they were about 10 and 7, the younger one suddenly never had any of her allowance left just the day after she received it. 

When I questioned them, I discovered that the youngest had made the mistake of borrowing a small amount from her big sister a few weeks before. In doing so she agreed to pay 1% interest a day, compounded, on that loan! 

Neither of them really understood what that meant and big sister began collecting 100% per day and the tab had really run up. They both learned a lesson in economics that day and big sister had to pay back the extortion and loaning little sister money was no longer allowed.

All of us need to learn the lesson of borrowing money and how it works. There are many small loan companies that do the same thing as big sister did but they know exactly what they are doing.