| 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 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 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...
| 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...
| 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...
