EGGsellent devotion on character.

Galatians 5:22-23  (ESV)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

We have had chickens which laid brown eggs, green eggs, blue eggs and white eggs. Each day we would check their nests and while we were doing so there were always a few that would sing out. On some days we would have lots of eggs and on others all the ladies seemed to go on strike.

Some of the eggs were small. There were times when I felt like getting a large egg and showing it to the chicken that lays the small egg  and saying, “Now take a good look at this and try harder.” But even if I had, it wouldn’t have made much difference.

Each type of bird laid a characteristic egg and no amount of encouragement would make them lay a different egg.

As Christians, you might also say we each have our own eggs. We also have our own characteristic contributions to the family of God:

Some people are easily eggcitable. Others tend toward eggsaggeration. Some are eggstroverted. Some are gifted in eggsplanations of God’s word while others have a gift of eggsaltation. Some set great eggsamples. Some seem eggsellent at almost everything they do. Some are gifted with eggcitement, or eggsortation, or eggsperience in many different areas. Some cover the eggspenses of ministry. And like at home, there are a few who sing out as well… most often to the music of “Lord I Eggstol you.”

Of course there are always a few rotten eggs. Those who have unrealistic eggspectations, eggsclude others, and eggsploit people. There are those who are always making eggcuses and always focusing on eggsternal things.

Jesus said you can tell a tree by its fruit. But you can also tell a bird by its eggs.

Dear Lord, help us to not be a rotten egg but to be the Eggsellent person You had planned for us to be. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

A Chicken Laid our Bibles

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

I was reading through my emails today and this title caught my eye. After reading I just had to share it. 

The email was as follows: My grandfather had an amazing memory. When other members of his family came to join him in rural Gansu province, he taught us about Christ from the fragments of verses he learned from a pastor.

In 1995 my grandfather gathered us all together. He said he had bad news. "I have taught you of Christ for over fifteen years from the memory of a pastor who died so I might have faith. But I have no more to teach you. I committed about five hundred verses of the Scripture to memory from that pastor, and I have expounded each of them to you a hundred ways since then. It is time for us to find the rest of the sacred texts."

We all looked at each other. This sounded impossible. We did not even know that what we were looking for was called a "Bible." For all we knew, there may have been thousands of different scriptures. In fact, that's what we assumed, since that's what the Daoists have.

We said to him, "But who will find us these texts?"

He replied, "God will; we must pray." We prayed... and prayed... and prayed. For two years we prayed. Nothing happened. But for the faith of my grandfather, I think some of us would have moved to another faith. He was firm: "God is testing us to see if we are really His. We must keep trusting and keep faithful."

One Sunday a few of us were praying, and a chicken came into our house. She clucked and made a great noise and then promptly laid an egg. We did not know where she had come from, so my grandfather tied some money to the leg of the chicken. It was only about 10 cents. The chicken strutted off with an injured air from the whole experience. We knew she would return to her owner.

Less than an hour later there was a loud cry on the street. Someone was yelling, "Who tied money to my chicken? Who tied money to my chicken?" The voice sounded angry, but my grandfather replied without hesitation, "It was me."

The man came into our little house. A well-dressed man who had soft hands and was very well groomed followed him. He said in a cultured voice, "I am a high ranking member of the Communist party in Beijing."

Our hearts sank. What was he going to do?

"I have never heard of such honesty in all my life," he said. "This is astonishing. I have just come from Beijing to visit my brother after being betrayed and deceived. I lost lots of money."

He turned to my grandfather and said, "My government desperately needs your spirit of scrupulous honesty. If only there were more like you in China. Tell me, what makes you so honest?"

My grandfather answered him in two words: "Jesus Christ!"

The Communist official seemed to smile to himself and then asked, "Can I do anything for you?"

My grandfather, with the boldness of a long life, said, "We would like to find the sacred texts of Christ!"

The official looked at him, puzzled. "What do you mean `sacred texts'? Don't you mean a Bible?"

It was the Communist official who told us what a Bible was.

Again the boldness of my grandfather staggered me. He asked the official, "Can you help us get a copy?"

The official smiled openly now. He made no promise, but merely said, "I will see what I can do."

The official went back to Beijing, but nothing happened. Months went by. We continued to pray. Then a young man appeared in the village, asking for us. He pulled out from his tote-bag seven brand ­new Bibles.

We asked him, "How did you know to come here to us?"

He said, "I am part of a network of house churches, and one of our leaders was arrested in Beijing last year. While he was in jail, he was visited by a high ­ranking public official, who said, `If I let you go, will you promise to deliver a Bible to an old man and his family in Gansu?' Our leader said he would see to it. The next day he was released and given a piece of paper with your grandfather's address on it."

That's why we say, "A chicken laid our Bibles!"

That is such a cool story of how God worked through a chicken. I pray with each egg that we donate that my chickens lay that God will use them in a mighty way.  If you would like to find out more how you can make a donation to supply chicks for families in need click here to go to Samaritan’s purse.

Dear Lord, we thank You for Your Word. I pray that we would take the time each day to read it so that we may know You better. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.