Our Daily Bread

The Danish philosopher Sören Kierkegaard tells a parable of a man who broke into a department store one night. Rather than stealing merchandise, he rearranged the price tags on many items. The next morning the clerks and customers found one surprise after another: diamond necklaces for a dollar and cheap costume jewelry costing thousands.

Tourists throughout the centuries have visited the famous Acropolis, the ancient hilltop religious citadel in Athens. Thousands of sightseers from all over the world have picked up marble chunks as souvenirs.

I arrived at the airport from an out-of-town trip, and as is our routine I called to let my family know they could pick me up. I dialed our number and expected to hear the customary “Hello.” Instead, 6-year-old Stevie picked up the phone and said, “Hi, Dad!” Having been told when my plane was expected, Stevie had complete confidence that I would be on the other end of the phone.

The smooth, shiny lizard known as a skink doesn’t ordinarily draw crowds at the zoo. But the little critter discovered by a homeowner in Jacksonville, Florida, created quite a stir because it had two heads, one at each end of its body. What an unusual spectacle! And what an illustration of absolute frustration! When it tried to run, its legs actually moved in opposite directions.

When members of the Second Continental Congress approved the remarkable document known as The Declaration of Independence, they plainly declared their belief in God. The drafters of this noble proclamation knew that the sweeping freedoms they were proposing could work well only in a society where the Creator is acknowledged. They affirmed that God has “endowed” all people with the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” because He values each of us.

In his book God Cares for You, Walter B. Knight gives this account of the memorial service in 1929 for the widely known Bible teacher and author F. B. Meyer:

One day when Jesus was surrounded by a multitude, a distressed ruler of the synagogue named Jairus pushed his way through the crowd and fell at His feet. With great urgency he pleaded with the Lord to come to his house. His little daughter was dying, and he knew that the Lord could heal her.

This prayer by Ruth Harms Calkin spoke to my heart.

Tracy Morrow, who goes by the name of Ice-T, delights in his role as a controversial rap singer whose lyrics are blasphemous and obscene. Yet, inspired by a truce between two violent gangs in Los Angeles, the Crips and the Bloods, he wrote a surprisingly sentimental song, “Gotta Lotta Love.”

God had seized the attention of Pharaoh and the Egyptians with a series of plagues. Now they were dying to be rid of their Hebrew slaves. But God didn’t want the Israelites to leave Egypt emptyhanded. After all, they had 400 years of wages due them. So they asked their former masters for articles of silver, gold, and clothing, and they got them. Exodus 12:36 says that the Israelites “plundered the Egyptians.”