The Dough Boy Funeral

Veteran Pillsbury spokesman Pop N. Fresh died Wednesday of a severe yeast infection. He was 71. 

He was buried Friday in one of the biggest funerals in years. Dozens of celebrities turned out including Mrs. Butterworth, the California Raisins, Hungry Jack, Betty Crocker, and the Hostess Twinkies. 

The graveside was piled high with flours, as longtime friend Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy, describing Fresh as a man who "never knew he was kneaded". 

Fresh rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a smart cookie, and wasted much of his dough on half-baked schemes. 

Still, even as a crusty old man, he was a roll model to millions. Fresh is survived by his second wife. They had two children, and one in the oven. 

The funeral was at 3:50 for 20 minutes.

It Is A Choice - Your Choice

The sad thing is that we often don’t make a conscious choice. But we become distracted by non-important choice offered up by the world. We don’t see it as a choice between God and this what ever and at that moment the what ever seems like more fun. Yet that is the choice we are making.

A ball game is starting at 10 AM Sunday morning and it is a choice between worshipping God on the Sabbath or having a little fun at the ball game. But we say, “Oh I can go to church next Sunday.” The devil smiles and says, "Yes but you chose not to worship God this Sunday and I have a little piece of you.”

I was on the board of directors of the YMCA in Chillicothe, Missouri and at one meeting the Aquatics Director wanted to schedule a swim meet on Saturday and Sunday. She had to be reminded that the YMCA was a Christian organization and we did not schedule anything that would pull the children out of church on Sunday.

So many organizations see a blank spot on their calendars on Sunday mornings and think that nothing is going on. Then we Christians are faced with a choice between God and some event that we would like to attend. 

Yes it is in fact a choice between that event and God.

40 Hour Work Week is 71 TODAY

I grew up knowing that the work week was 40 hours and that after you worked 40 hours you got overtime pay. Then I joined the Navy and they didn't care about that rule.

Today is the 71st. anniversary of the law that established the 40 hour work week. Sometimes when we harp about the government interfering with business we forget what caused the interfering. In the desire to get every last penny of profit for their company employees were forced to work very long hours six days a week.

In the past seventy one years human life expectancy has doubled. While there are other factors that contribute to that fact I believe that there is a connection to the enforced shorter work week.

With the economy today some people are working for lower wages and working two thirty-two hour jobs just to keep up.

Happy Anniversay

Small Life Changing Events

Every thing that happens to us affects and changes us in some way. Even little things are possible life altering events. A man is walking along the street and sees a poster in a stor window. Instead of walking past it he stops and reads it. He thinks about that poster for days and discovers that he needs to make a change in the way he relates to women.

Up to that time he was the macho man who flirted all the time and generaly treated women as objects. He went from one girl firend to another with no real relationships. Now tht poster has stuck in his mind and he begins a shift to new thinking. It is not just his relationship with women but his whole demoner and his view the world around him.

He maed a decision to become something he wasn't and all because he stoped to read a poster. He decided that he wanted to be a gentleman. The idea of being a gentleman was new to him. Now he seeks to learn about what a gentleman does and how he acts. It does not happen over night but it begins and in time he makes the changes to become truly a gentleman.

The poster said: “A boy makes is girl jealous of other women. A gentleman make other women jealous of his girl.”

Those Side Effects

Truth in advertizing is a rare thing so we should always question what we are seeing and hearing from companies and especially political ads. The ones to be very careful about are the drug companies who must tell us about side effects of their products. This usually comes at the end and the volume is turned way down as a soft voice tells us about them. Side effects that often make such a long list that the ailment seems easier to deal with.

One ad I watched on TV last night had a long list of side effect that included “flushing” and that word was almost inaudible. As I take a medicine that causes “flushing” I can say that it is a euphemism that does not accurately describe what that side effect will do to you. Flushing sound so innocuous to hear it in that ad or for that matter from a doctor.

When my doctor prescribed the pills she said, “There will be some flushing and that is normal for this medicine.” That didn’t sound so bad until I discovered that “flushing” really meant “HOT FLASHES” and I found that out in the middle of the night. I thought I was on fire and my whole body was sweating.

I now have a great respect for what menopausal women go through. My darling though it was very funny except that the bed linens need washing more often. Before you take your meds check the “side effects.”

Using other preachers sermons

My first preaching professor told us that there are no original sermons. Someone somewhere has already preached what you are about to preach. Every idea represented in the scripture has been covered for two thousand years. Today preachers build sermons on the ideas of our predecessors.  

A young preacher serving his first congregation began his first two week vacation. His first stop was his parent’s home for the week-end. He proudly attended his home church with his parents. They had a new preacher who was full of surprises. As he began the sermon he said, “I have a difficult confession to make. I spent many years in the loving arms of another man’s wife.” Shock and gasp could be heard around the room. He continued on about how much he enjoyed being snuggled to her breast and hearing her say how much she loved him. He went on and on about their loving relationship.

At the moment when everyone was about to lynch him he said, “And that woman is my mother.” The women of the congregation could be heard to say. “Oh how sweet.” They young preacher later was talking to the pastor and said, “That was great can I use that story?”  For the rest of his vacation he thought about that wonderful attention getter and looked forward to using it.

Finally back home he began his sermon with that same story. His congregation also went into shock and he could hear angry cries for the congregation. He got a little rattled and suddenly stopped talking. A blank stare came across his face and he said, “For the life of me I can’t remember who she is.”

Church Member and/or Christian?

“Just going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.” 
― G.K. Chesterton

My pastor this morning used this Chesterton quote during his sermon this morning. I admit to using it a few times my self. It is a good reminder that being a “Christian” is much more than joining a congregation. To be truly a Christian is to be completely committed to the way of Jesus, word and deed.

The teachings of Jesus call for a radical life style of love, forgiveness,  peace and service.  Many are they who want to adopt the name but not the life.

Sunday only Christians who worship for what entertainment they can get out of it and then go home and serve evil the rest of the week fool themselves into judgment.