Proverbs 25:25: Like cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a distant land.

I don’t know if you’ve ever received good news in an unexpected place, at an unexpected time, from an unexpected person. All of this happened a couple of weeks ago when Becky and I went to Great American Buffer for lunch. We like to go after one o’clock, since that’s when the senior discount kicks in with a free drink. Hey, there has to be some recompense for growing old. We’re so eager to get the discount that we’ve waited outside the restaurant for the clock to kick over past one, but that free drink was well worth waiting for.

All right. So we had eaten our lunch and were just about to leave when I noticed a family of five or six, which included a little girl about six years old. They all got their food, and I assume someone in the family got her meal, because she came back bearing a small plate with something on it. From where I was seated, I couldn’t tell what she said, but as she held her plate aloft, she proclaimed to everyone she passed, “I have cookies! I have chocolate chip cookies!” I have rarely seen a broader smile or a greater sense of excitement that we did from that child that day. It warmed our hearts and made waiting for the discount worthwhile.

I got to thinking that the way the girl reacted to her cookies has a lot to say to us about how we share the Gospel. We need to proclaim it publicly with great joy and enthusiasm as we are going about our business, wherever we go. We don’t necessarily have to do this with words, but with our attitudes and actions. This is how the Good News of the Kingdom of God has been shared and will be given to others until the end of time.

The Bible tells us about the great Messianic feast at the end of time, and I have a feeling that no one has to wait for a senior discount, and that there will be cookies, and they will be chocolate chip.

Praise God for the Good News, for the sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ, and for making provision for us in every way, from now until we walk the streets of gold , bearing our cookies aloft. Amen.

Matching the Socks

John 14:6: “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever.”

I don’t know if you do your own laundry or not. It’s one of those chores that no one talks about, knowing hat we all have to do it or have it done, and it comes with its particular frustrations. Chief among these is trying to make sure that the same socks you put in the washer and dryer are the socks that come out. We’ve all ended up with an unmatched sock or two, and it’s utterly baffling to understand where they went. Sometimes they have attached themselves to a shirt and show up after a while, or maybe the dryer created a black hole which sucked up some of the socks and deposited them on the very baffled inhabitants of a small planet circling a distant star. It’s hard to tell what they would think of this, particularly if they didn’t have feet, and they would probably want to return those strange knit objects.

I bring this up because I did my laundry Monday, and, when I went to match the socks, they were all there! I was inordinately happy about this rare event, which shows you the kind of life I lead. I put them in their special place in my dresser, where I can be assured that they will matched and ready to wear. I have to say here that there are no guarantees that they will match, especially the one-color socks. This is why I prefer footwear with designs on it so that I can easily tell what matches what.

Now, the point of all this is this: God created us as we are, and we are indeed wonderfully made. But we are missing something important, as a sock missing its mate cannot do what it was intended for. For us, that something missing can be the presence of God in our lives. And that is much more important than a bit of fabric formed into a tube and closed at one end.

Praise God for making us so that we need him, and for manifesting his presence in so many ways, but especially through the power of the Spirit, whom we praise, along with the Father and the Son. Amen.