Stir What You Got!

One of the highlights of my life is my weekly lunch with my dear friend, Steve Bailey, who is the outstanding preacher for the church over in Mesquite. Occasionally we will try something new, but we pretty much have our normal haunts. Sometimes we eat down at Dunston’s where we run into Lee Roy Jordan. Sometimes we meet down at West End and eat at Haufbrau’s. Most of the time we eat Mexican.

Our topics of conversation pretty much run the gambit. We always talk about our families. We discuss our disgust with Jerry Jones and the ‘Boys. We talk about our work, our upcoming trip to Israel, and sermons.

Steve is as fine a minister and as fine a man as I have ever known. By the way, he is writing an article for our next issue of Hope & Expectation on “The Daily Work of the Preacher.” It will be outstanding.

Well, at this week’s lunch, Steve told me a great story and I asked him if he would mind me sharing it. He said he would be fine with it. First the story and then some application.

There was a man who late one Sunday night, was driving home from a brief trip. He stopped at a roadside diner in a Texas hill country town to snag a quick cup of coffee. As is typical of many people, he quickly used all the sugar packets the waitress had left on the table for him; but wanted more.

As the waitress came near his table again, he called out, “I want some more sugar, please.” The crusty old gal defiantly put her hands on her hips, leaned over toward him and snapped, “Stir what you got!”

Isn’t that a great story? It seems that there are a couple of different approaches we can take to life. We can sit around and complain about what we don’t have or we can take what we do have and make the most of it.

* Do you ever wonder why you don’t have more talents/gifts to serve God?  Stir what you got—you just might recognize you already have way more than you really need! (Matthew 24:14-30)

* Do you ever wonder why you don’t have more friends to encourage you?  Stir what you got! If you are a part of the church you have many friends who do care about you. Most important of all is a friend who gave His life for you. (John 15:13)

* Do you ever wonder if you are blessed? Stir what you got! As children of God we have more blessings than we can imagine. (James 1:17; Ephesians 1:3)

* Do you ever wonder if anyone is listening to you?  Stir what you got!  Our Father in Heaven promises us that we can come before His throne at any time and He will hear our prayers. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

* Do you ever wonder if you are loved? Stir what you got! “"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

As we begin this New Year may God help all of us to remember how blessed we are. Don’t sit around wondering why you don’t have more. Get busy in the work of the Lord and STIR WHAT YOU GOT!

Dear Father in Heaven, we thank You for all You have done for us. We thank You for the tremendous ways You continually bless our lives. Help us, dear God not to focus on what we don’t have, but help us keep our minds on how blessed we are because of Jesus. It is in His powerful name that pray, Amen.