DECEMBER 2024 GLAD TIDINGS 11 THE CHRISTIAN WAY OUTREACH PLAYS BY GARY TOOLE EVANGELISTIC MINISTRY THROUGH PLAYS: CHRISTMAS EASTER, & HISTORY Plays are available to Churches free of charge For more information contact the Ministry All books are free to the public when making a donation of any size THE CHRISTIAN WAY MINISTRIES 2687 GA. HWY. 56 W., UVALDA, GA. 30473 © COPYRIGHT 2002 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED “TO GOD BE THE GLORY” “Old Sayings Grandpa Used” “Down Memory Lane” You know, I remember as a boy my dad would say that a man’s word was his bond, and a hand shake seals the deal. Now this was a code that most folks lived by. Saints and sinners alike, but of course, I’m sure there’s some that went back on the deal, but for the most part, folks believed in living by a moral code of conduct. Also, many, back then, couldnt read or write, and there wasn’t a lot of paper work.Now they got contracts with paper work running out your ears. I’m sure, in my time, and on back in my father’s day, there was legal contracts and legal documents you had to sign, but the most important aspect was that most folks were honest. Even the unchurched. Most took things more serious back in the old days. Now they were not perfect back then, but they had high morals for the most part. Now when the hand shake sealed the deal that meant you would do your very best, and if you couldn’t meet your moral obligations, then you would make further arrangements. Not just shun your responsibility. So, what led to this was our Sunday School lesson in Genesis, chapter 29 about Laban and his two daughters and Jacob. Laban was a smart industrious man, and back then you didn’t just ask for a girl’s hand in marriage. You had to earn it. So Jacob was head over heels in love with Rachael. She was a nice looking gal. So he and old Laban cut a deal. A hand shake and Jacob was to work seven years for him to get Rachael. Now, I could be wrong, but looks to me like Laban got the best end of that deal. Now you just click on eharmony.com and pick you a mail order bride out of the Sears and Roebuck wedding catalog, so to speak. Well, so Jacob was happy , believing the old man would keep his end of the bargain. Well, little did Jacob know that old Laban was not only industrious but he was a crook as well. Now with scripture, some of it you have got to fill in the blanks, so to speak, because how old Laban pulled this deal off seems sort of impossible with us, but back then things were done different. So apparently they had a wedding and the bride was veiled and maybe spoke much like her sister, and they brought her to Jacob by night to the bride chamber and it was pitch dark in there and Jacob was ready to consummate the marriage with his new wife and he probably wasn’t thinking too swiftly. So Laban deceived Jacob and had brought his other ugly daughter that he couldn’t give away, until the next morning when Jacob woke up and say Leah instead of Rachael, and he knew he had been had. He might have been like the old boy that fell more in love with this girl’s singing than with her looks and the next day after the honeymoon night he woke up and she had cold cream on and big old foam rollers in her hair and he said, “Honey, for goodness sake please sing!” But Jacob was mighty upset and rather than beating the tar out of Laban, he cut another deal with him and did a hand shake. Can you believe that? And he worked seven more years, and finally got Rachael. Now most would call that Karma, but it was pay back for Jacob because prior to all this, he had deceived his brother Esau and deceived his own father. So sounds like the crook crooked the crook. Now in this day and time so many ain’t even gonna get married, let along do through all that, and most wouldn’t work seven days for a woman; and some don’t stay married more than seventy seven days. So what does that say about the society we live in? A bunch! And I will let you fill in the blanks! Can you say amen? u GARY TOOLE EXPRESS LOCATION: 1001 N Madison Ave Douglas Ga. In the old Preferred Loan & Tax Bldg Come See Us For Your: Personal Loans - Tax Loans - Filing Taxes LOAN AND TAX SERVICE 912-389-1040 A HAND SHAKE Todd Wade - Owner Jasmine Gusman - Douglas Mgr Ed and Julia were headed toward their home in Mesa, traveling a long desert highway in Arizona on Christmas Eve in 1931, when the car tire suddenly blew. On the side of the road, Ed set to work on the flat while his wife surveyed the desert scenery. Then, she heard something. A faint wailing. Unsure what could be making that sort of a sound in that desolate area, she investigated, spotting a hatbox sitting alone in the distance – as another muffled cry sounded. Inside, the two discovered a baby – abandoned near the lonely stretch of road. How did the baby girl, wrapped in a blue blanket and nestled in the hatbox, come to be there? It was a miracle that she was found before the worst happened to the helpless infant. God protected and provided the young couple who took her to authorities, where she was later adopted into a loving home. Sheila Elliott was 55 when her mother finally told her she was adopted. Indeed, a shock at any age. Learning that she had been found 150 feet off the road in a hatbox by unlikely passersby – her life started with a miracle in the desert. It must have been a lot to digest. Though she never got to meet her birth parents, an investigative journalist, John D’Anna, worked tirelessly with Sheila to uncover the truth. She never knew definitively why her parents chose to abandon her – though there were some clues, nothing provided a solid answer... SeMIRACLE - page 16 Miracle in the Desert
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk2NjczNQ==