You.

Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of gifts he does not give. Proverbs 20 514 maybe it's just me, but I hate when a cracker crumbles in my fingers while I'm dipping it into the garden. Veggie cream cheese it may be a small thing for you to get a few crumbs in the dip or end up with some sauce on your fingers, but I for 01:00 a.m. Not a fan a cracker, by implementing location, is a sturdy vessel on which cheese or dip can be held. The unwritten expectation of me, the consumer, is that a cracker is not a fragile potato chip and as such should be able to stand up to thicker substances without breaking like a chip. Now, it is true that the fault may not lie with a cracker maker. If the truck driver delivering the cases of crackers has had a bad day, he may have chucked the cases off his truck with a little less care than he should. All that banging around might damage the crackers. Further injury might be incurred if those folks who stock the shelves at the store aren't any more careful with the individual boxes of crackers than the truck driver having a bad day. If not already damaged, the crackers could be subjected to needless trauma by stalkers who drop the box on the floor before putting it on the shelf. And I'm the one who always gets the box of crackers that has been dropped and banged around. Then when I get home and take a sleeve of crackers from the box, I suffer the frustration of having the crackers crumble. It is frustrating and not a little annoying when reasonable expectations are not met. Take the clouds, for example. In a dry, thirsty land, clouds that promise rain but never deliver are most unwelcome tormentors. Proverbs 20 514 compares those clouds without rain to people who promise to give gifts they do not actually give. It is not nice to make promises you do not keep or to fail to live up to reasonable expectations others have of you. It is wrong. So if you say you will do something, then for heaven's sake keep your word.

This has been your thought for the day with Steve Burkham, pastor of Community Christian Church in Stockton, California. If you have questions or comments for Pastor Steve, please send them to [email protected] have a great day, and we hope you'll join us tomorrow as pastor Steve opens God's word to bring us another thought for the day.