BURNT TOAST

This post comes from a blog called THE CHAPEL, written by a good friend, Pastor Tim Clutter who serves the Neptune CHURCH OF GOD in Ohio.

I smelled the burning toast before I saw the smoke coming from the toaster. My wife had popped a couple pieces of bread into the toaster for her breakfast. She had failed to look at the slide switch which determines how dark the pieces of bread you drop in the toaster will be toasted. I happen to like my toast darker than the average person. So I move the switch over to the darkest setting then hover over the toaster like a hawk sitting on a fence post watching for a mouse to run out of a hole. When I see the bread getting just the right darkness, I pop it up with the emergency button located on the top of the toaster.

Many people are probably thinking “Why don’t you figure out the setting that will toast your slices of bread dark like you want it then you don’t have to watch it like a hawk after which you could move the switch back to your wife’s favorite setting?” Not a bad idea but then it would take the thrill out of toasting bread. I want the thrill of living on the edge of making toast. I like to feel the hot air on my face as it rises out of the slots of the toaster almost singeing my eyebrows and drying out my eyes. I like to watch the red hot coils glowing against the pale white bread turning it darker and darker until just the right time then BAM, I hit the emergency button and up pops the toast. If I have been a little hasty the bread pops up toasted to light. If I have been to late the bread is charred to a blackened crumbly mess. But if I have timed it just right the bread pops up and is dark and crisp on the outside yet light and fluffy on the inside.

Some people live life like I make toast. They live on the edge, taking risks, trying to watch very closely so they do not get burned to a crisp but they sure don’t want to pop out of life on the light side either. The fact is that we can live life on the edge but yet have an emergency button that makes sure we are just right when we pop out at the end.

God gave mankind an emergency button called Jesus Christ. He is God’s one and only son, who came not to condemn the world but to save the world. Jesus will save whoever accepts Him as their Lord and Savior and they will not die but will have eternal life. This is God’s promise to mankind but please note that he did not promise an easy life. He did not promise a life without risks or challenges. In fact by following Jesus, He will lead you into more risky challenges and you will experience more thrills than you can ever imagine or have experienced before. And you can be sure that when you pop out of life at your end, you will be dark and crispy on the outside but light and fluffy on the inside.

Play it safe for eternity yet enjoy the risks and challenges that God has prepared just for you. Believe that Jesus lived, died, was buried and rose from the grave just for you. Uh, oh! Got to go! My toast is burning!

Have a Happy New Year! Keep Praying!!! Pastor TIM