Friday, December 07, 2012

The Faith and Hope Milk Company

Good morning on this cooler Friday! Some of you, including me, are old enough to remember milk deliveries to your home. While I delivered the Scottsbluff Star-Herald in part of our little town, the milkmen ran from their truck to each home with fresh milk and other dairy products. This service stopped sometime in my youth, but in some parts of the country it is enjoying a bit of a revival. Those who remember might be given to missing this service now and then; it was a fine thing that is lost to the past in most communities. Today, let us start up this thing again, but we have a smart milk man.

Somehow, and you and I cannot figure how, this milkman delivers fresh each morning exactly what we need. Little or large containers marked with the company brand name - Faith and Hope! - arrive each morning right on time. Behind the scenes, this milkman and his company have their cows and the creamery, and a fleet of vehicles that is well maintained and replaced regularly. All the things that we don't see provide that fresh dairy goodness each and every morning. On Saturday, the milkman delivers enough for two days because even the milkman deserves a day of rest. Then we look over at the neighbor's house.

Why, the children are healthy, their house is practically a mansion, and they enjoy a boat, camper, cars, and various other expensive toys. And you never see the milkman delivering there. A salesman shows up at your door one day. Yes, we are pretending milkmen still deliver, so we might as well throw in a door-to-door salesman as well. This salesman is a sharp one. He begins by casting just a little doubt on that dairy service.

"A friend told me he saw one of their trucks broken down by the side of the highway one morning on his way to work. I wonder how many people didn't get their milk that day?"

A seemingly innocent question tacked onto that rumor of doubt gets you to thinking. Hmm, you wonder, he only delivers just enough, what would happen if guests show up the next day, and wouldn't that be the day he breaks down too! You visit the neighbor's place, not to spread the good news about your milkman, but to see how they get by without Faith and Hope. A bit of snooping about - doesn't everyone do that when they have the opportunity - and, voila, you find containers of milk, cheese, butter, and even real cream stored in the fridge. Suddenly, the neighbor catches you in the fridge!

"Oh, you found the cream! You must try some of my new cheesecake! Here, I'll cut you a big slice, and have some of this real whipped cream on top!"

Well, that is that, no problem. But you feel a bit guilty because you should be putting in a good word about your milkman instead of gulping down the other stuff. After all, did we forget that our milkman is the best of friends? You sit down with the neighbor and... does it seem as though that salesman is around somewhere? A hint of his aftershave or something? Anyway, the cheesecake is delicious, much better than your own from that dairy service. The rewarding taste is right there on the tongue, no waiting! You relish the dessert and think how nice it would be to get some of that cream, what was that brand again, Carnal Pleasure? Kind of an odd name that. You promise to come visit again, and head off to look at your rather plain looking house and its empty fridge. The milkman didn't deliver much today, how did he know?

A few hours later, you think once more to go out and get some of that cream, only one problem - the neighbor's cheesecake or the whipped cream or something does not seem to agree with your system. Sweat breaks out on your forehead, and that dreaded feeling of cramping up comes over your guts. Aagh, it's been a long time, since your first trip away from home in fact when you tried something deliciously similar to the neighbor's cheesecake in that town where you thought no one from home ever came. That dessert was good, but it was never worth this!

Each day we get just enough faith and hope to make it through one day. We are tempted to put in a tank out back that we can tap anytime we want. We might even ask the Lord for enough faith to get through our entire life, but like manna, faith seems to have an expiration date. We need fresh faith each day for only that day. Our hope is in Christ, and we don't get a portion for tomorrow or next week, we get our provision for just today. And what better delivery system than that? After all, we don't know how much faith and hope will be needed tomorrow.

Trust in God, and take you portion of faith and hope for today!
Bucky

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