August 01, 2008
County Fair
As a way of community support, our body of elected officials voted to buy a pig at the county fair, have it processed and donated the meat to a local kitchen charity. I thought it was a great idea until I learned that those with expertise in farm animals and auctions were all too busy to attend the sale. Now I know what to look for when buying a ham or pork chops in the grocery store, but I just can’t picture how a pig on the hoof will look once he’s in the package. I understand there are people available to help the novice bidder, however I’ve seen auctions before. People buy animals with the nod of the head, a scratch of the nose or a flick of a paddle. I’d be afraid to even twitch. Spiritually speaking, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.” (1 Cor 12:4-6 NIV) I think the same can be said about natural gifts. I suppose I could learn how to judge and bid on a pig, but when others are already equipped with that gift, or service or working, I need to let them do their job!
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----Your analogy of sending a novice to buy the pig reminded me of the youth program at XYZ Church. It sounded good, the parents of the kids involved getting together, organizing, planning, and administering the youth activities and Sunday School classes. The leap into this program the current preacher had brought to the church involved sending the youth minister packing, then hiring one of the church’s former youth ministers and making it well known that he would not be a significant part of the youth program. A few parents had enough ambition for the task, but none were trained and experienced in “buying the pig.” The trained and experienced pig broker hired to replace the other one sent packing had no desire or intention of “buying pigs.” So the moms and dads who can deal with the pork chop and ham bone of their own family unit are expected to become whole hog experts in running a youth program!
-----You now have the unenviable opportunity to experience the public ire at government ineptitude from the government’s side of the fence. For over a generation we have watched the government take a big slice of our earnings, promising to make us economically secure when we loose our earning ability, then squander much of the money on its own general budget while running a ponzi scheme on us with the rest of it. They take our children into what they call schools and teach them so much superfluous drivel about snail darters and sexual preference that the poor kids can hardly think straight enough to learn reading, writing, and arithmetic. Homesteads are taken against the will of good, law abiding folks for supermarket parking lots, and discussing the relationship of AIDS and homosexuality is made a hate crime while smoking a cigarette in your office is made illegal because someone else might inhale and get the cancer the world health organization has never been able to show second hand smoke causes. Government run by man makes as much sense as solving our energy problems by inflating our tires!
-----While there is little we can do about the necessity of man running the government, the Bible is clear about Christ being the head of the church. That means He runs the church. He gave us His Spirit for that purpose (as well as others) and our part in running the church was to become humbled to the Spirit and to the Word He teaches. But instead of rising to positions of church leadership in order to teach and inspire humility to the Spirit and obedience to the Word, leaders have risen to install programs and teach philosophies of their own choosing. Therefore, I observe church leaders operating just as do leaders in government, caring less about the quality of the pig brought home from the market and more about the pig being cooked according to a preferred recipe.
Love,
Steve Corey
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