October 3, 2023 - Good Morning! It's Tuesday, October 3.
Here in Shelby County, Texas we are all about chickens. Raising chickens for meat is one of our biggest industries. There's a Tyson plant here and scores of chicken "farms" where, half a dozen times a year, thousands of chicks are delivered to run around in chicken "houses" and to grow, in just a few weeks, to just the right size for your dinner table. Each American, on average, eats over 100 pounds of chicken each year! Over 10 billion chickens are raised annually for meat. It's big business. So, the next time you sit down with your family for some KFC - you're welcome!
Every little Texas town has some kind of yearly festival to celebrate what's unique about that place - and to bring needed revenue into the town coffers. There's the Rose Festival in Tyler, the Strawberry Festival in Poteet, Sweetwater's Rattlesnake Roundup, and the Mosquito Festival in Clute. Mosquitoes - REALLY? We're celebrating mosquitoes? I've never had the pleasure of visiting Clute, but if that's the best they could come up with, I don't think I'm on my way there any time soon.
Here in Center, Texas, on the first full weekend in October, we proudly celebrate Poultry Fest! For today's little thought I checked my Bible index for mentions of chickens. There are a number of them, most of little note. We remember the haunting prophecy that Jesus shared with Peter - "Before the rooster crows you will deny me three times." I don't imagine that Peter ever forgot those words. And then there's this verse -
Matthew 23:37 - O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.
These are words that Jesus spoke at the temple in Jerusalem during the final week of his life here on earth. The pharisees had continued to follow him around the city, looking for incriminating evidence, hounding him with questions. But at this moment, Jesus cut through their petty concerns, their selfish agenda, and He spoke from the heart. Talk about haunting phrases... but you were not willing.
How often have we denied the love and the blessings and the wisdom that the Lord desires to give us? Holding on, instead, to our petty concerns, our selfish agenda. How often has He reached out to us, but we were not willing. Each of us could rephrase this verse from Matthew, removing "Jerusalem" and substituting our name.
What does God have for you today? Are you willing to accept it?
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
