17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. ~ James 1:17 NKJV
By Bro. John L. Cash
Two or three Christmases ago, Spencer and Madeline gave me a wonderful Christmas present. It was a vintage electric coffee percolator, probably from the 1960s. The modern percolators they make now just can’t measure up to the perfection of those war-horse-coffeemakers of the past. Every potful is strong and delicious and piping hot. I use it every morning, and Susan and I begin each day with great coffee (and great joy).
When the lid of my ancient percolator developed a crack in it, I decided I would rather track down a new lid than buy a new percolator. Through the wonder of Ebay, I found a person who had a burned-out percolator that had a perfect lid. Postage included, my new coffeepot lid cost me $14.99. This morning, as I watched the fragrant brown liquid rhythmically “perk” through the little glass dome at the top, I realized that this is some of the best money I’ve ever spent. Oh, the joy that a good and perfect gift can bring!
Receiving what you want for Christmas is great; but something even better than that is the feeling you get when you find the perfect gift for somebody else. Perhaps that happens because we’re made in the image of God the Father. After all, as the Scripture says, He is the giver of every good and perfect gift.
That’s why we’ll never get through praising the Lord and thanking Him for all the good things in our lives. We receive blessings from so many sources — but they were all given from the Lord’s hand first.
Dr. John L. Cash is the “Country Preacher Dad.” He was raised in Stuttgart[SS1] , Arkansas, and has spent the last 31 years being a country preacher in the piney woods five miles south of the little town of Hickory, Mississippi. (On week days has a desk-job at a public school, where he used to teach Latin on closed-circuit-television.) He and his lovely wife, Susan, live in the parsonage next door to the Antioch Christian Church (where the outdoor cats are wishing they were indoor cats because of the cold weather.) Their kids include Spencer (age 25), his wife Madeline (age 25), and Seth (age 22), and his wife Leanne (age 21). You can send him a note at brotherjohn@ilovechurchcamp.com.
