[256 words]
I once read a story about a young preacher. Hershel and his wife were two young adults who were new to the ministry and to the town where they served. As many young adults, they had more bills than money.
But there was hope. You see, Hershel was asked to preach a wedding. The bride-to-be was the daughter of an affluent businessman in town. Hershel hoped that he would get an honorarium for his services.
After the wedding, the bride’s father presented the preacher with a small, wrapped box. When he got home that night, Hershel and his wife opened the gift and found a pair of new work gloves. Both were disappointed. They had bills.
They put the gloves in the back of their closet and forgot about them. Four months later, an unexpected cold snap blew into town. Hershel couldn’t find his winter gloves, so he got out the new work gloves. As he put his hand into the gloves, he felt something inside. In each finger of the gloves was a $20 bill. Two hundred dollars in total. That was like $2000 in today’s market.
All those months of doing without, when the money they needed was sitting in their closet, just waiting to be used.
That’s like many of our blessings. Prayer, inspiration of the Bible, fellowship and encouragement of the church—all these blessings await you in Christ. All we have to do is use them.
“You do not have because you do not ask God” (James 4:2b).
Larry Fitzgerald
Woodlawn church of Christ
Abilene, TX