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She wasn’t that way when I married her!

Many marriage partners become frustrated with the way their spouse has turned out. One husband approached Dr. Howard Hendricks with a list of gripes about his wife. Hendricks “consoled” the guy with his Columbo-type tactics. He told the man he was surprised that a man of his intelligence would marry a woman with so many blatant faults. The man quickly defended his prenuptial decision by declaring, “She wasn’t that way when I married her!”

Hendricks retorted, “Then I guess it means you made her that way.”

The fault we often pin on our spouse can frequently be—at least partially—ours.

—House to House

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Catching chickens and stealing bases

If you are a baseball fan the name Ricky Henderson is synonymous with “base stealing.” Henderson was so good at stealing bases that he reportedly would tell catchers, “If you don’t give me a pitch to hit, I’m going to end up on third base.” Translation: “If you walk me, I’ll steal second and third base.” In Henderson’s 25-year baseball career, he set major league records in unintentional walks, stolen bases, and runs scored.

Henderson was fast—real fast. But what is interesting is how he got so fast. Henderson tells how he lived in Arkansas as a little boy with his grandmother on a farm. He says that in those days “we had to catch a chicken to be able to eat a chicken.” Obviously, Henderson’s speed was partially God-given, but it also was improved through difficulty and hard work. The moral is, when life seems common-place, complex or confusing, God’s providence might just be training you for an opportunity to do something great later.

—Jason Moon, Waterview congregatrion, Richardson TX

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Know her like a book?

Years ago I saw a TV interviewer talking to a couple who had just celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary.  He visited the delightful couple, more than 90 years old, in their nice home. As he sat with them on their little patio, he said to the man, “Well, I guess when you’ve lived with someone as long as you have, you know her like a book.”  The little man sat in thoughtful silence for a beat or two, then slowly said, “Well, you would think that, wouldn’t you? But every time I think I know all there is to know about her, she writes a new chapter!”

—Linetta McDonald, North Little Rock AR

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Illustration: Three stooges and three stewards

Over on The Fellowship Room, Eugene Adkins shares this good illustration from the mouth of a child:

A few days ago I decided to sit down with my four-year-old daughter and show her some Three Stooges videos. She’s a fan now. The first thing out of her mouth was, “Why isn’t there any color?” The last thing was, “I want to watch the 3 Stewards again.” I can think of a Bible lesson about 3 stewards where one acted like a stooge. Can you? Here’s a hint (Matthew 25:14-30).

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Illustration: Apathy

By John Gaines, Antioch congregation, Snead AL

Winston Moseley died a few days ago. Few people would recognize his name. The 81-year-old man spent the last 52 years of his life in prison. In 1964, Moseley stabbed to death a young woman named Kitty Genovese in a brutal, gruesome killing.

What got people’s attention was the fact that there were 38 witnesses who watched Kitty’s murder, and no one did anything to help her even though she was screaming, “Help me!” It was only after she was dead that anyone bothered to call the police.

One of the witnesses later told law enforcement authorities, “I didn’t want to get involved.” (Washington Post, April 5, 2016).

This updates an illustration about apathy or indifference that some of us who have preached for a while may have used before.