The hottest spice is believed to be the Red “Savina” Habanero pepper developed by GNS Spices of Walnut, California. A single grain will produce detectable heat in 1,272 pounds of bland sauce.

Is your good influence detectable in a crowd? Jesus spoke of influence in the Sermon on the Mount: “Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its savor…it is good for nothing but to be cast out….” (Mt. 5:13, 14).

 We are God’s “spice” to influence His world for good. There are two ways that we may influence others: by words and by deeds. People are more affected by what they see than what they hear. What do they see in your life and mine? Do they see devotion to Christ, shown by faithful attendance at Bible study and worship? Do they see someone truly striving to live like Christ, or do they see someone who is indifferent and compromising? Will God say to us on that final day, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” or will He say, “Depart from me, I never knew you” (Mt. 25:12)?

—Adapted from Kenneth Davis

One-liner Church Wisdom

• People are funny. They want the front of the bus, middle of the road, and the back of the church building.
• Opportunity may knock once, but temptation bangs on your door again and again.
• Some people are kind, polite and sweet-spirited …until you try to get into their pews.
• Some want to serve God, but only as advisers.
• The good Lord didn’t create anything without a purpose, but the fly and mosquito come close.
• When you get to your wit’s end, you’ll find God lives there.
• Quit griping about the church; if it was perfect you wouldn’t fit in.
• Not only are the sins of the father visited upon the children, but nowadays the sins of the children are visited upon the fathers.
• To make a long story short, don’t tell it.
• If your left hand doesn’t know what your right one is doing, you should consider running for a job in Washington.
• Some minds are like concrete, thoroughly mixed up and permanently set.

 “A merry heart doeth good…” —Proverbs 17:22

A Caring Cowboy

A family, all nine of them, loaded all their earthly possessions into a covered wagon pulled by a four-horse hitch and set out to join fourteen other families leaving Arkansas headed for Texas and the promise of a new land. Rolling through rainstorms, hail, blistering hot days, fighting off insects at night, the wagons rolled across the plains of what is today Oklahoma.

One afternoon a cloud of dust appeared on the horizon behind the group, and the wagon master halted the column and drew them close together into a circle. The men reached for rifles while the women gathered the children together into the center of the wagons.  In a few minutes it became apparent that the dust was coming from a LONE rider, carrying a parcel across his saddle.

Slowing his horse to walking gait, the man called out that he meant no harm. The horse stopped, the man got down, reached for the bundle and unwrapped a small child no more than two years old.

A cry of recognition tore from the throat of the baby’s mother when she saw her seventh child standing beside the strange man. The child had not been missed, but he had fallen from the wagon and the cowboy had found him sitting in the dirt and sifting it through his fingers…waiting for someone to come back for him.

How many of us are on life’s “wagon train” headed for the promised land, and so intent on our own journey that we do not miss those of God’s children who fall off along the way?

“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted”

 —Galatians 6:1

Sunshine and Rain

God hath not promised skies always blue,

Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;

God hath not promised sun without rain,

Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

But God that promised strength for each day,

Rest for the laborer, light on the way;

Grace for the trial, help from above,

Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

 “I am with you always…” —Mt. 28:20

 

God's Plan for Saving Man

God’s Grace  — Ephesians 2:8

Christ’s Blood   — Romans 5:9

The Holy Spirit’s Gospel — Romans 1:16

Sinner’s Faith  — Acts 16:31

Sinner’s Repentance   — Luke 13:3

Sinner’s Confession   — Romans 10:10

Sinner’s Baptism  — 1 Peter 3:21

Christian’s Work  — James 2:24

Christian’s Hope  — Romans 8:24

Christian’s Endurance  — Revelation 2:10