So, when the daily reading that arrives in my inbox in the morning happens to be exactly the same passage that I was thinking about last night in bed, do you think that means maybe I need to pay attention to what it says?
I’m always leery of “Bible roulette,” and this joke illustrates why:
A man was looking for direction in his life, and he opened his Bible at random, asking, “God, please show me what to do.”
He set his finger on the page and read what he was pointing to: “And Judas went and hanged himself.”
The man slammed shut the Bible and said, “No, God, really — I need to know what to do!”
He opened it again, put his finger on the page, and read the new verse: “So go and do likewise.”
On the opposite side, about ten years ago, I heard this one:
A man was in desperate financial straits, so he went to his pastor for advice. “I have tons of unpaid bills,” he said, “and debt collectors are calling me every day! I don’t know what to do.”
The pastor replied, “Go home, open your Bible, and the first words you see will be God’s will for you.”
Two weeks later, the pastor is walking when a limousine pulls up beside him, and who steps out but that same man, smoking a cigar and dressed in a designer suit. “It worked!” the man exclaimed. “I can’t thank you enough!”
The pastor is stunned, but says, “God truly is wonderful! If you don’t mind, what words did you see that turned around your fortune this way?”
The man replied, “Chapter Eleven!”
Er, okay, now before my guardian angel beats me with a frying pan, which I arguably deserve, I’ll make sure to take a look at that passage in my inbox again…
