Know When To Fold 'Em

It's been at least a month since I've written a new devotional. There are some good reasons for that. We have started the school year in a format unfamiliar to anyone and I am the least proficient tech person ever. (I am catching up!) The other main reason is that I have been to dealing with a makeover of my apartment, including carpet and duct cleaning as well as painting. The complex took care of the aforementioned items including supplying the paint but I had to supply the painter. That's where Barry comes in. Barry is an accountant who is part of our congregation and a member of my Sunday/Wednesday Bible classes. He and his family were here when I moved to Houston and now his three kids are all grown up. Barry was recommended by several ladies in our congregation; I have to believe that was an answer to prayers. Barry is the son (and brother) of a contractor and he can do anything that relates to fixing a house or in my case, apartment. He is meticulous, even taking off bathtub fixtures and scrubbing them as well as AC vents, etc. My place looks brand new and I am most grateful. But that's not what this is about.

When I moved to here in 1998, someone suggested that I could make myself useful by helping count the collection on Sunday morning, even though I have no experience in that arena besides working a cash register as a teenager in a grocery store. Guess who my partner was? You guessed it- Barry! Several weeks into my new responsibility, Barry stopped what he was doing one morning, held up my personal contribution, and asked me a question:
"Why do you fold your checks? Every time you fold your check, someone has to stop and unfold it."

I had never thought about that and it kind of caught me off guard. It was a little thing but then again, it wasn't. I teach the importance of little things in both basketball and my classes, that people notice small stuff and small stuff adds up to big dividends.... or big losses. Since that day, I've never placed a folded check in the plate as it goes by. If I have it in my pocket, I unfold and flatten it and lay it carefully lay it face down on the green felt at the bottom of the silver container. You know, something about the right hand and the left hand......

I mentioned parables in my brand new Bible classes this week. The word basically means thrown alongside of, as in a comparison. Jesus often compared big things to small; like a mustard seed and a mountain or one sheep to a hundred or a child to a kingdom. Small never means insignificant; ask the widow who gave two mites! When speaking on the importance of the Law of Moses being fulfilled, the Savior mentioned no commandments, instead focusing on the smallest letter/least stroke of a pen in Matthew 5:18. Isn't it funny that the tiniest idiosyncrasy can irritate us about even a close friend but some other small habit or quirk can quicken our falling in love with a significant other? Jesus never minimized the value of anything based simply on its size. I mentioned the check incident to Barry while he was painting and we shared a laugh while he reiterated the correctness of his stance. I have come over to his side on the matter. Checks and balances are always connected. Sheep have a fold; checks shouldn't.

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

E-mail me at shawley@westburychristian.org