My first job was mowing lawns with a friend. One of our contracts was with the Newville United Methodist church to mow that cemetery. The ground was rough as can be and we mowed it all with two push mowers. By the end of summer I had saved up $25 for the county fair.
Out with a friend, the first night of the fair I decided to take my chances with the game where you had to knock something over with a baseball to win. I tried it several times and just lost my money. When I decided to move on, the Carney made me a deal I couldn’t refuse. If I tried once more and won, he would give me all my money back. So, I tried and failed again. He kept offering me deals to get my money back until I had lost that entire $25. Then he announced that I should learn a lesson from it. Yeah, I thought, don’t listen to any Carneys.
And I did learn from that experience. I learned how gullible I was, what a terrible aim I am, and how quickly money can slip through our fingers. And I’ve never been conned like that again. It was a lesson well worth $25.
Tags: fair, money
In his book, Its Not My Department, motivational speaker Peter Glen illustrates the value of learning to serve. He tells the story of a man named John Barrier, who went in to cash a $25 check at the U. S. Bank of Washington in Spokane. In his Ace Concrete Company baseball cap and dungarees, Barrier looked like an ordinary customer.
As he left the bank, he tried to drive his pickup truck out of the parking lot. The young man at the parking booth, however, told Barrier to cough up 60 cents, or he’d have to go back into the bank and get his parking ticket validated – proving he had done business at the bank.
Annoyed, Barrier backed up, parked his truck and went back into the bank to have the teller stamp his ticket. He couldn’t find the original teller, and the one he did find refused to validate it. She thought he was a dead beat.
This time, Barrier was really ticked off. “Give me the $ 1 million I keep here!” he snorted. “I’m taking it next door.”
Alarmed, the teller called a supervisor, who whispered to her that her customer was a multimillionaire real-estate developer. The bank apologized and quickly stamped his parking ticket – but it was too late. Barrier withdrew his money and took it to the new bank down the street. Because of its unserving nature, the bank was out $1,000,000.60.
What does that story say to you?
Tags: money, service
I heard the story of a successful young businessman who was out for a Sunday drive in the mountains near his spacious house.
He hit the accelerator on his BMW convertible and let the breeze blow his hair backwards. Suddenly, he lost control of the car and rolled down a mountain throwing himself from the car. Onlookers quickly called the police who rushed to the scene, finding the fellow stumbling around and looking below at his wrecked car.
The police reported that the man was bleeding profusely and muttering, “Oh, my car. It’s ruined, it’s ruined.” A policeman chastised the man and said, “You idiot yuppie! All you really care about is your car and you don’t even notice that your left arm has been severed and is missing!”
The yuppie looked down and moaned, “Oh, no, not my Rolex, too!”
God’s blessing may include some really nice things in this world. But, we need to be sure our things are under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, as well as our souls. When Job lost his possessions, he responded by saying, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:21).
How have you reacted when the Lord allowed something to be taken from you?
Tags: greed, materialism, money
Have you ever heard someone say, “The grass looks greener on the other side of the fence”? Of course, we know that means that what someone else has looks better until we get there. It also says that the beholder is not satisfied with where he is, but must always look for greener grass elsewhere.
I’ve known men who were always looking for better women, always searching for the better job, never content with what God has given them. I’ve also known women who were never content with their house or car, always hopping from church to church, always searching for greener grass. They thought the grass was greener on the other side until they got there.
Someone once said, “If you think that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, it is probably because you are not properly caring for the grass on your own side.”
My Bible says, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have” (Hebrews 13:5a).
Tags: coveting, greed, money