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Backfire

| The Commons

Sometimes our attempts to discipline our kids can backfire. One mother was so fed up with her teenage son’s slovenliness and slobbery that she imposed a dollar fine on every dropped book, clothing, towel, etc. If she had to pick it up, he owed her a dollar and at...

The Prayerbook

| The Commons

There is an old, beautiful Irish story of a priest and an old man walking together along a country road in Ireland. A storm came up suddenly and they took cover in an old barn where they remained warm and dry. As he sat on an old pile of hay,… To access this...

The Mule

| The Commons

A woman looked out her living room one morning and was amazed to discover a dead mule on her lawn. She called the sanitation department and asked them to remove the carcass. But by the time the work-crew arrived, she had changed her mind. She gave the men $100...

Our Offerings

| The Commons

My favorite way of taking the offering as a pastor was the following: “The Bible says ‘God loveth a cheerful giver.’ But God accepteth from a grouch. So in whatever spirit you give, the offering will now be received.”   But the introduction to an offering I remember...

Circus

| The Commons

Back in the days when circuses traveled to cities, a circus strong man offered a reward to anyone in the town who could extract more from a lemon that he had squeezed dry. A small, frail-looking man accepted the challenge and, after great exertion, got one more drop...