Killed By Crumbs - Bro Terry J.

28/10/2010 22:48

There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried.

Luke 16:19-22

The B.P.Restaurant or Road house was a big deal in Blacksmith, south of Belmont where I was born and raised. There weren’t very many places to eat in our area. There was a Fish & Chips shop and a Pizza stand where I ate my first pizza and wasn’t terribly overwhelmed by it. But when you really wanted to eat big you went to the B.P. More than one Sunday after church would finish it seemed as if the entire church would get into a mad rush to go to the B.P..

It was run by a family who went to our church and the kids went to our school also.The owner was a short little lady I thought was old but as time passes I realize how young she really was. They had home-cooked meals that seemed to focus on a couple of specialties.

First was the fried chicken and secondly there was the roast beef. Add a choice of about four or five vegetables, some crusty bread, and the famous banana pudding and you were in for a real treat. I can’t remember the price, but I think all of it was about $3 or $4.

But if the top two choices were the fried chicken and roast beef, it was not long before I discovered something that would become a favorite.

The left-over fried chicken would be taken and dumped into a large pan of BBQ sauce and would have an overnight wait before being served the next day. The next day, the whole pan would be heated up and you could enjoy some of the finest eating known to man with this BBQ chicken. In time, it become so that this is all that I wanted to get when I went to the B.P.

Mrs Marshall became known for her fried and BBQ chicken as time passed but what is really important was that she found a way to make her leftovers profitable for her business. While we probably applaud her for being a frugal business owner, it is very hard to get most people excited about eating leftovers. In fact, most restaurants these days toss the leftovers into the garbage or give it away to homeless shelters in their area.

-Locked up in this story in Luke 16 we find two worlds at odds:

· The soul of a sinner and the soul of a saint.

· The path of a sinner and the path of a saint.

· The dilemma of riches and the hope of something higher.

· The commerce of Hell and the investment of Heaven.

· The greatest loss of all—a man’s soul and the greatest gain of all—Heaven.

Mark 8:36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

-This is one of the greatest lessons in life.

· What are you going to give your soul for?

· What pushes you?

· What gets you up every morning to face the day?

· What are the final thoughts in your mind before you sleep?