Hay Story

By George Dalton

Five years ago my father died after a long illness and went home to be with the lord.  At his funeral I met a cousin that I had not seen since we were boys fifty years ago. You know how you do when you see someone that you were once close to,  “Give me your phone number; here take down my number.” 

 My wife and I had a ranch in East Texas.  We sold all of the cattle and equipment and moved to a large city.  Part of our ranch was on four hundred acres of leased land where we had several large bales of hay left in the field from the year before. The owner asked me to make sure that it was removed.  I contacted a neighboring rancher and asked him if he could help me get rid of the old hay. We agreed to meet back at the ranch one morning a week after my father’s funeral.  While driving to the ranch, my cell phone rang.  It was my long lost cousin.   He said, “I am over drawn at the bank and if I don’t get a thousand dollars today, I will have checks bouncing all over town.”  I told him I was on the way to the ranch and would call him as soon as I got back.  As soon as he hung up I thought of Gideon and his fleece. So I started to pray, “Dear God I don’t know this man anymore.  Is he a drug addict, an alcoholic, a gambler? Father I don’t know him but you do, so please give me a sign telling me if I should give him the money he wants or not.”

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Justified

By Cheri Cowell

Recently several high profile court cases played themselves out in the media. Emotions were high on both sides, and depending on which media outlet you listened to, when the verdict was pronounced justice had prevailed or had been done a disservice. I wondered what it must feel like for the victims in each case, and what it must feel like to the accused when the jury finds them not guilty when they are, or guilty when they aren’t. It is difficult to imagine a verdict that is truly just.

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Demise of a Salesman

By Emily Parke Chase

The salesman appeared at my home ten minutes before the hour and parked his car behind my own vehicle, preventing any possibility of my escape.  From his trunk, Jim (not his real name) pulled a week’s worth of luggage. The biggest box held a vacuum cleaner. Three other boxes contained miraculous attachments that would turn this machine into the Harry Houdini of housecleaning. As he entered my home, I mentioned that I already owned a Kirby.

“Really? How long have you had it?”   “About ten years.”  “Well, we’ve spent two million dollars improving the machine.”  Jim displays the new attachments, all duplicates of mine which are stored downstairs under a tidy layer of dust.  “Ah, but have you seen this?” He picks up a hard rubber attachment and wrestles it inside out. He works hard to make this process look easy. “Of course, this is new. It becomes softer after a few times. With the blower feature, this attachment can clean out a drain.”  Have I been negligent? Do people vacuum their kitchen drains weekly?  “Can I use it to plunge a clogged toilet?”  “No, if you turned the machine on, water would splash all over you.”  The picture of filth spewing all over me is unpleasant, but wouldn’t a plugged kitchen drain do the same? That drain gums up only when the sink is full of tepid greasy water. This device cost two million dollars and I still have to bail out the sink first?

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When Women Aren’t Believed

By Susannah Wollman

“Don’t look at me like that! Why don’t you believe me?” She was indignant and heartbroken at the same time. It seemed like every time she tried to tell her husband something, he laughed, ignored her, or simply didn’t believe what she said.

Why is this such a common occurrence among women—even Christian women—today? Have we simply come to a time in society that women think they have something to contribute, but men are still thinking like cave-men and consider women generally less able, less intelligent, or less likely to “get it right”? Are you among the many women who can relate to this scenario?

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Spiritual Creatures on a Physical Journey

By Peter Lundell

Most people don’t think much past what they can see—especially if it’s bills to pay or the car ahead of them. But if asked, they might agree that they’re physical creatures who may or may not be on a spiritual journey.
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