August 21, 2008
Patching the Leak
As a voter I find it frustrating that many of the initiatives put on ballots are combination wish lists. The thought process seems to be if you add on an issue that everyone can buy into, such as education, voters will give their approval. After all who could say no to supporting better education. A few years ago our church roof was leaking. Rather than just fixing the leak, the elders wanted to ask the congregation for permission to replace the entire aging-roof. The senior pastor at that time was relatively new to our community. He put forth the suggestion that they should approach the congregation to ask for a new roof and to refurbish the gym floor with a cushioned surface. (It should be noted that the preacher’s son and a couple of the church leaders were really, really into basketball.) When others questioned the preacher’s reasoning he said, “We’ll, the gym floor is for the benefit of the youth and we know the congregation won’t turn down any proposal if it’s for the youth.” Sometimes I’d just like to see us fix the leak...
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Gail;
When I was young, I had a friend who was in the habit of coming to me and saying, “Hey, Steve! Do you want to go to town with me?” Why sure I wanted to go to town with him! I thought he was the coolest thing around my part of the countryside! Besides, being in town was fun; all the cute girls were there! Maybe he would talk to me about the cute girls; they scared me. But invariably, when we got to town he talked to everyone in the store while he used me for a pack mule. Worse yet, he never did say anything about the pretty girls.
But I thank him for what he taught me that summer. I learned to smell an ulterior motive before its proposition was even postulated! I also thank him for what I didn’t learn, for I stayed petrified of girls long enough to still be single when at thirty six I met the pretty girl I am so happily married to. Ulterior motives are next door to lies - not on the same block, mind you, but in the same duplex! In fact, the doors are just a sill apart. I think I might go so far as to call an ulterior motive a low grade lie. To see it in the minister and elders of the church was real disheartening. But it shouldn’t have really bothered me, I guess, that they did this kind of low-grade lie, because I witnessed plenty of high-grade lies from them.
God bless them, though. They try hard to serve the Lord. They are just as blind to their own faults as I am to mine. So I still love them, for together, we all keep Jesus’ sacrifice from ever becoming superfluous.
Love,
Steve Corey
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