The landowner in Jesus’ parable went into the marketplace hour after hour; finding men there at the proverbial “eleventh hour,” he asked them, “Why have you been standing here idle all day long?” Turns out, it was a lack of opportunity rather than a lack of interest; when offered an chance to work, they were glad to take it (Matthew 20:6-7).
I fear some of us do not have an excuse quite so good.
I was surprised during my recent “camp out” how many of my fellow preachers wake up to the same alarm. Of course, pretty much everything surprises me at 5 a.m. But we can discuss my love of sleeping another time.
The deaths of George Michael, Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds this week seemed to set off yet another wave of complaints — not that we would be robbed of their respective talents (the word being used generously in the case of Mr. Michael), bur rather that 2016 was going to go down in history that much faster as the worst year in the history of … whatever.
How realistic is that? …
