October 22, 2006

It is a nice frosty morning today, praise the Lord! The sun is rising far to the south these days; the northern folks would tell us to be grateful the sun comes up at all during this time of the year. Please forgive any gaffs in the typing today, Samantha the cat wants to help with the devotional for some reason.
Our churches always seem to be short of money because there are so many needs in any community. A congregation might protest if the church started buying big screen TV’s for all the poor folks in a town, but I haven’t heard of a case like that yet. Usually the Food Bank here in Sidney is begging for donations when winter starts, with the exception of canned vegetables, thank you! I am amused by the seeming choosiness of those who would turn away any kind of food at all when depending upon donations to do their good work. However, I am reminded of the disasters in Oklahoma one year when donations of used clothing poured in from all over the country. Yes, many people lost everything, but the old clothing became a logistical nightmare for the relief workers. When a relief or charitable organization asks for cash only, people can get their noses in snit, “Cash only? Well I never…” Jesus always told us to look at it from the other point of view. Cash is easy to handle and with it the organization is able to buy exactly what is needed. Charities and churches should never be looked upon as a dumping ground for old stuff we don’t want. If our church holds a rummage sale to raise funds, and no one buys our old stuff, we should at the very least offer to take it back.
How many times has that devious little voice in your mind mentioned some donation of stuff and suggested it be a part of your tithe? That voice can be a mean one, really hitting your sensitive spots at the wrong time. We cannot always have things the way we want, and that voice is always there to make some quite hair-raising suggestions at times. Perhaps it’s just my little voice and not yours that offers those very bad suggestions; I don’t know for sure what happens in your mind. Tithing is very important for churches and other Christian organizations, strive to be as generous as that widow woman and her two mites.

God loves you!

Bucky