The four adjusted their respective watches. Then the mother turned to the father, and with hand outstretched said, “OK. Now let’s all synchronize our wallets!”

It helps to get on the same page whenever we’re working on a common goal. All the various church denominations would end all their fussing if we all synchronized our spiritual lives to God’s word.

Our four year old grandson, Reuben, got a little confused with his words. He couldn’t say, “tuxedo,” and kept saying “Texas” instead. “I’m wearing my Texas”, he was heard saying.

Reuben was the ring bearer. However, my wife hid the pillow with the fake rings so it wouldn’t get lost, and no one thought to ask her where the pillow was. So, Reuben had to walk in without the pillow. So he held the hands of Nathan, the best man, and Isaac Houser, the bride’s brother. Half-way through the ceremony he began to do the “potty dance” and asked them both to help him, to which they both said, “Not now.”

After squirming for awhile, his eyes got real big and he ran down to his parents sitting in the third row. “I pee-peed in my Texas”, he reported. Now that’s a memory for the books.

The neighbor looked at him quizzically and said, “In?”

Could it be that we can’t work with someone because they don’t know what we’re thinking? My wife and I have this problem often. I’m talking about one thing and she’s talking about another. We finally come to the place where it dawns on one of us that we’re misunderstanding something. I’m pushing one way and she’s pulling another.

That problem that you have with the other person just might be a miscommunication on your part. Sometimes we just need to start over and spell out our vision. Which way are we trying to go, anyway?

He soon repeated a little more firmly that he really had to go. She was just as firm that he could wait just another moment. At that, he leaned forward and proceeded to vomit all over the pew in front of him (a nice padded seat).

There was a good lesson in that, as well. Its OK to make rules that teach people responsibility, but one-size-fits-all rules are sometimes out of touch with reality. This was one exception to the rule that we should have heeded.

Are there rules you are imposing on others that just might be too much for them at this point in their lives?

My car continued to move through the darkness as if under its own power. The tempest was so severe that I began to lose reception on my car radio. The blast of the squall made me uncomfortable as I sensed the car being rocked slightly from side to side.

Then, as abruptly as it began, the downpour ceased and a ferocious wind began to blow against my car. The cyclonic roar was louder than the deluge had been, but the darkness slowly passed and I emerged from that fearsome experience. Many storms in life are like that storm, but we must let Jesus take the wheel and guide us through.

I trusted God through it all and was soon driving out of the Car Wash.

Later, I was preaching away and wrapping my message up. I was at a quite serious point and just bringing people to the altar call point when the alarm went off on that clock. My concentration was broken as I quickly tried to process what was happening.

I pushed the snooze button and shot young Adam an “evil eye”, but it was too late, the church was in an uproar and the sermon was over.

The moral of the story is if you’re going to give people information, give them all the information. If you don’t fill in the blanks, they’ll fill them in themselves.

“Wouldn’t you call those accidents?” replied the puzzled agent. “Naw,” the cowboy said, “they did it on purpose!”

The Bible does teach that there are no accidents in the life of a believer. “All things work together for good…to those who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

Had any accidents lately that turned out to be a blessing?

That was his best mule and Uncle Versie had no way to get the mule out of there. He didn’t want her to starve to death, so he decided he would get a shovel and cover her up. It would be cruel, but it wouldn’t be as cruel and inhumane as to let Della starve to death in the bottom of that deep cistern. Uncle Versie took a shovelful of dirt and threw it down into the cistern. Every time a shovelful of dirt hit old Della’s back, she’d shake the dirt off and stomp it.

It wasn’t long before Della had shaken off enough dirt and stomped it so she was high enough to step out of the cistern.

Could it be that you could actually work your way out of the pit you’re in by shaking this dirt off and stomping it? Everybody has problems. You can either let them bury you, or, like Old Della, you can trample them under your feet until you rise above them.

We were both bundled up for winter weather. He was wearing a fur cap tied under his chin with white elastic with blue and yellow trim from an old pair of fruit of the looms. I was trying to treat him respectfully but had a hard time not breaking out in laughter. The more he talked the more my mind kept thinking about that white waistband.

He started attending the church and became a regular member for many years. We gave him assistance in many ways over the years and he became a regular ministry target. And, I have to admit, he provided many laughs with his eccentric behavior. I think God sometimes sends comedy-relief people into the church just to see how we’ll treat them.

Has God placed a comedy-relief person into your life? How are you treating them?

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld stepped into this cultural stigma and made it big. He once said that the downfall of every comedian was success. Success makes you hide behind ivory gates, he said, and separates comedians from the real world real people live in. His advice to comedians is that they must remain connected to the everyday world to find humor in their own lives.

Could it be that the same is true of Christians? Are we hiding behind ivory gates (stained glass windows)? Are we so separated from the world around us that we can no longer understand its pain and have lost the ability to speak truth into lost lives? That would not be a laughing matter.