SUNDAY MORNING SERMON

LIVING BY THE NUMBER TEN

            1. Ten guidelines for living a better life are not near enough. There should be 5,345, most having to do with the rich taking advantage of the poor. And maybe a few about sex.

         

2.  In the beginning, there were no humans. And it was good. Then God got this brilliant idea: Why     not ruin everything?

                  3. I have met an angel. She was a waitress at The Waffle House. Those bright eyes and that infectious smile. She must have been about 23. I heard her tell someone she had two children. I didn’t hear her say anything about a husband. She wants to go to college. Pre-med. I think she can do it. An angel can do anything.

    4. You got to have faith. The question would be: In what? There are a lot of people selling faith nowadays. Faith requires a leap into the unknown, the unprovable. I take that leap hesitantly, but it doesn’t work that way. I find it and lose it, find it and lose it, find it…..

             5.      Do not believe everyone you hear claiming to know “the truth.” In fact, run the opposite direction as fast as you can.

6.     Love comes in a variety of flavors, none of them violent.

        7.     “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is not an armchair slogan meant for the faint of heart. If someone is hungry, she doesn’t need a lecture, she needs food. The homeless don’t need a copy of your ideology, or what religion you subscribe to. They need a place to live.

8.   We are our brothers and sisters keepers. It is said if you don’t have compassion, you don’t have a heart. And that’s not good.

          9.   Don’t get religion unless you mean to do something good with it.

10.    No, ten are not near enough. This life is way too complex for such a small number. Too many wrong turns to be had. Have you ever walked down a road where you can’t stand the pain? I should be a better husband or wife. What holds me back? Am I as devoted to being a good father or mother as I am to my career? My community needs me to help. How about next month? When the road gets painful, am I willing to keep stepping forward? Or will it burn holes in my shoes?