Pastoral Paragraphs

It’s interesting to watch children at play, especially as they make up games. That’s usually when they improvise with items lying around. Folks from previous generations did that anyway because they didn’t have the luxury of the variety of toys available today. They made up games with sticks, cans, or anything else which could occupy their time.

And then there are folks who provide toys for their pets such as cats or dogs. We have two Chihuahuas who have lots of toys. They also have luxurious beds. Recently, we replaced the pillows on our bed and left one of them for “the boys.” Now, they prefer the used pillow to their luxurious beds! Perhaps our scent is comforting to them. But after all that, the time spent selecting just the right kind of bed and so forth, they’re satisfied with a used pillow!

They also occupy their time with other less expensive toys, such as ripping up paper. Forget the raw hide or the chew rope… they like shredding paper and dragging throw rugs from one room to the other.

It doesn’t take much to occupy the time and to satisfy the play pleasures of children or domesticated animals. (For equal time, let it be known that cats, too, have their special distractions and unorthodox interests!)

I think, too, that evangelism through the church is such a simple thing and doesn’t need a lot of Madison Avenue-type promotions, or other elaborate effects. The best kind of evangelism is when we tell others our story, what Christ Jesus has done for us personally, to effect such a dramatic life-altering change. “Let me tell you about my Lord.” That the four Gospels in a nutshell. We like to tell people about our grandchildren and promote our children on the honor roll or football team, or anything else.

I think people will be comfortable with that. Like an old pillow.