Jesus

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Who To Deal With When Making A Purchase

The other day I needed to buy a present for my wife’s birthday. It was coming up soon – the next day, in fact – and there wasn’t much time left.

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All Lily wanted was end tables for the living room. I went straight to the Hudson’s Bay Company because it was close by, and they had living room furniture.

I found two different styles right away. One set was clearly on sale – that had my attention and interest. The other one I liked more, but the price was not to my liking.

It was just about then that a man in a suit came up to me and asked if he could help. We chatted for a moment and I inquired if the sale extended to the other style of end table. He did a quick check and, sure enough, it was on sale as well. My interest started to peak.

He said he could have the salesman pack it up for me, right then if I’d like, and I could take it home immediately. Those were magic words to me! I said, “Let’s do it.”

I left to move my car to the store entrance. When I returned, I noticed a picture of a man just inside the door who looked a lot like the man in the suit.

A salesman was waiting for me when I got to the furniture department. We sat down to do business but he didn’t seem all that happy about making the sale.

I mentioned that the man in the suit had said we could order in a new end table, and make an exchange later. That’s when I found out why the salesman wasn’t as excited about my purchase as I was.

He told me he was doubtful he could do that. A month ago a woman had ordered the same end table and there was still no sign of it coming in yet. He also said he didn’t like selling his floor models, because then he didn’t have anything to show people.

I thought to myself, “You have trouble ordering stuff in, but you don’t like selling floor models. What business are you in anyway?”

Instead, I asked him, “Then how come you’re selling this to me?” He answered, “You were dealing with the store manager.”

I joked, “So this is all his fault?” “Yes,” he said, “and if that woman who ordered this end table comes back, she will be mad when she finds this one gone.”

I smiled and said, “Just send her over to the store manager to explain.”

I got the impression this salesman was more interested in having his department filled with nice furniture arrangements than he was in selling anything in the store.

As I drove home I wondered if the store manager knew he had an employee who was not as eager to sell his merchandise as he was.

Here’s the thing: We just celebrated Easter – the greatest day of the year, because that is the day Jesus rose from the grave, having paid for the sins of the world. Jesus now offers to apply His payment to your sins, and your friends’ sins. If you’ve had your sins paid for by Jesus, then don’t be like that salesman who likes his store the way it is. Be like the store manager who is interested in letting others have what he has. Let others know they can have their sins paid for, too.

That’s life!

Paul

Question:  Have you found you are more inclined to keep your relationship with Christ more to yourself?

I’d love to hear from you; you can leave your comment below.

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End Well

Sometimes my wife just wears me down.  For the last sixteen years we’ve lived in Ontario, 2 ½ hours from Toronto, and Lily has said she would like to visit Casa Loma (http://www.casaloma.org).  I wouldn’t say she has insisted on going, but she’s suggested it with a really big smile, batting her eyelids and stretching out the word “please” for a long time.

It’s not like she’s never been, she just wanted to go again – together. I’ve put her off many times, but recently we were in Toronto for our anniversary and were looking for one more thing to do before we came home.

She had me at a weak moment.  I had very little options, no alternate plan, and if I wanted to keep those romantic anniversary feelings from crashing on the rocks, I needed to cave on this one.  In the end, it wasn’t a bad choice of activities.

If you know nothing of Casa Loma, it is this enormous home built at the turn of the 20th century.  It’s not a castle but it looks like it could be a castle. And if you owned it and lived in it you would feel you lived in a castle.  Now, however, it’s a great money-making tourist attraction for the city of Toronto.  The day we went they made thousands of dollars; there were people everywhere.

It has 98 rooms, secret passages, gardens, and an underground tunnel to the stables.  Still, I figured, if we went through the rooms quickly (the way I like to go through show homes when Lil gets the opportunity to drag me through them), we could be done in an hour.

But Lil wanted to get the self-guided tour with a phone-like device giving a commentary on all the features of the house – yes, all 98 rooms.  As soon as they slapped one of those devices in my hand, I knew we were going to be putting an offer in to buy the place.  This was not going to be a short in and out viewing!

What I found interesting from all the commentaries was the background on the owner, Henry Pellatt.  The commentary painted him as a generous, wealthy, kind man.  At one time he controlled one quarter of the wealth in Canada.  The home he built was supposed to cost about $500,000 but ended up costing $3.5 million, a hefty price for 1911.

Then one thing after another happened to Henry:  he lost a lot of money when the government took his electric power company from him without compensation; the stock market crashed; and he made some deals that didn’t work out.  In the end, he was bankrupt, and the city took ownership of Casa Loma due to back taxes owed to the tune of $27 million in 1933.

Henry ended up penniless.  When he died, at the age of 80, he was living in a room in the home of his former chauffeur.  His son hadn’t even taken him in.  … A magnificent house, a sad story.

Here’s the thing:  If for almost or all of your life things go your way, but you die without a saving relationship with Christ, your life ends up to be just a very sad story.  Jesus came to turn any life – good or bad – into a great story … and that’s worth checking out while you’re still living out your story.

Until Next Time!

Pastor Paul

Question: What kind of story will your life tell when its done? Leave your comment below