It had been a long...
Illustration
It had been a long day for Jim. The family farm was just barely surviving. He and his wife and neighbors had worked hard to battle the problems with drought and now the recession. Last year he had planted crops only to have most of them die from lack of water. This year, he had been forced to plant almost too late because an unusually wet spring prohibited him from planting at the best time.
Besides all that, he was just plain tired from a lot of things. For one thing, it seemed that hardly anyone volunteered to help with parent/student projects at his daughter's school anymore. He and his wife were two of the faithful few helpers. Secondly, he was tired of having at least one plea for financial aid in the mailbox everyday. They were all good causes, but he couldn't help them all; and at times like today, he wasn't sure he wanted to help any of them.
In spite of his thought to cut back on his own involvement, he grabs a tall glass of milk, a plate of cookies and sits down to prepare his Sunday school lesson for Sunday's class. It was then that he read 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 and knew that he had to keep on doing what he had been doing ... working hard and doing good works.
Besides all that, he was just plain tired from a lot of things. For one thing, it seemed that hardly anyone volunteered to help with parent/student projects at his daughter's school anymore. He and his wife were two of the faithful few helpers. Secondly, he was tired of having at least one plea for financial aid in the mailbox everyday. They were all good causes, but he couldn't help them all; and at times like today, he wasn't sure he wanted to help any of them.
In spite of his thought to cut back on his own involvement, he grabs a tall glass of milk, a plate of cookies and sits down to prepare his Sunday school lesson for Sunday's class. It was then that he read 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 and knew that he had to keep on doing what he had been doing ... working hard and doing good works.
