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The Story of the Cannibal Cows

Have you ever heard the story of the cannibal cows? The story is found in Genesis 41. The rule of Egypt had one of those puzzling, troubling dream. It was the story of the cannibal cows. He tells us the story,

Gen 41:17-21

“In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile, when out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and … After them, seven other cows came up — scrawny and very ugly and lean. I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt. The lean, ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first. But even after they ate them, no one could tell that they had done so.” (Genesis 41:17-21).

After the dream, the king turned to his wise men but they could not tell him the meaning of the dream. Only a man of God named Joseph could tell them the meaning of the dream. The seven fat cows were seven good year. The seven scrawny cows were seven years of famine. The famine followed the good times. The lesson for the king was that he needed to use the good times to prepare for the hard times.

Because he got the point, Egypt was spared from ruin. Because he used the good times to prepare for the hard times, they made it through the famine.

As you read this story, learn the lesson of the cannibal cows, the seven fat cows and the seven scrawny cows. Their story is one for all times. It is one for all lives. It is one for your family. As night follows day, life is a series of cycles. Good days follow bad days and bad days follow good days. If you will observe the lesson of the seven fat cows and seven scrawny cows, you will be prepared when seven scrawny cows come into your life. This is a hard lesson to learn, but ignoring it will lead to hard years.

As you read the story in Genesis 41, remember that the lesson of the cannibal cows came from God.

Lonnie Davis

The Frog Who Went to Be with Jesus

Little Gwen loves animals and somewhere she acquired a tiny frog. I guess she did not know that frogs were a plague, but that would not matter to a four-year-old girl. Even if it is a frog, it is still a pet. Little frogs in the possession of little girls do not have a long life span. Before long the frog died and her dad disposed of it. Her mother explained it to her by saying that the frog went to be with Jesus. Gwen cried and said, “I want Jesus to give me my frog back.”

We all understand that sentiment, not about a frog, but about someone we love who has gone to be with Jesus. When my Granddad died, I felt like crying that I wanted Jesus to give him back. I think of my mother often. My Aunt Maxine went to be with Jesus before I was old enough to go to school. I want to meet her again and get to know her better. We all have someone that makes us feel this way.

In the early church, these kinds of thoughts were hurting many at Thessalonica. They grieved for those who had died, or as Paul said, have “fallen asleep.” To encourage them he wrote, “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” (1 Thess 4:13-14).

When frogs are gone, they are gone. When Christians “fall asleep” they will wake up. We are not really dead; we have simply gone to be with Jesus. Do not grieve like others who have no hope.

Little Gwen called me last week and told me she had a new pet. It is a lady bug and it is living in a Tic Tac candy box. When it goes to be with Jesus we may have to have a full funeral service.

Lonnie Davis

It was a time when a woman with no child had no standing. It was a day when a man without a son had no legacy. Year after year, Sarah prayed for a child. Year after year her heart was broken. She knew her husband wanted a son and wanted to give him a son, but for a lifetime God had not blessed her. Finally she reached the age when having a child was no longer humanly possible. In such times it is easy for dreams to die.

In the midst of such broken dreams, God reached out to Abraham and Sarah. The Scriptures tell us, “By faith Abraham, even though he was past age — and Sarah herself was barren — was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.” (Hebrews 11:11).

“Even though he was past age,” is an understatement. When their child was born, Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90. If nothing else, one can read that story and realize that nothing is impossible to God. Your dreams are never too big for God.

I want to be like Abraham, the friend of God. I do not want to wander with no place to call my own. I do not want to live in tents and ride on camels, but I do want to be God’s friend and receive blessings that are seemingly beyond human possibility. To do this, I must have Abraham’s secret.

What was the Abraham’s secret? Read the passage again and you will see. “He considered him faithful who made the promise.” Abraham’s believed God was faithful and would keep His promise.

Preachers love to preach on man’s need for faithfulness. What may be needed more are lessons reminding us of the faithfulness of God. Only when we believe that God is faithful and will keep his promises will we look past the blessings of earth and see the blessings of heaven.

All the promises that God has made to you in His Word, He will keep. God is faithful. Believe it!

Lonnie Davis

It is not the years of your life, but the life in your years that matters. The story of Carrie C. White illustrates this. Carrie was a Florida resident who died in 1991 at the ripe old age of 116. Just think of all you could do with a life span of 116 years. Looking further into her story reveals that she was a resident of a Palatka, Florida nursing home at the time of her death. At 116 it is not surprising that she lived in a nursing home. The sad thing is that she entered the nursing home 82 years before she died! I don’t think I will mind living in a nursing home from ages 110 to 116, but I do not want to live in a nursing home for the last 82 years of my life.

Once a group of young people were discussing old age when the age of 95 came up. One of them asked, “Who in the world would want to live to 95?” Some else answered, “Well, I guess anyone who is 94.” After thinking about Carrie White, we can’t help but add, “Yes, but only if it really is living.” Just breathing is not living. Living means doing something with life.

A first grade teacher was going through the grief of losing her mother. Children pick up on things and one of the students noticed that the teacher was not doing well. She came up to the teacher and asked what was wrong. When the teacher shared the loss with the child, the little girl answered, “Well, I hope you live until you die.” Maybe the little girl did not fully understand it, but she said something profound. Too many people do not live until they die.

For many years Dean Martin was part of the Hollywood scene. After he died, one of his close friends noted that Dean Martin had lost his will to live when his son died several years before him. “He never was the same,” the friend said. Sometimes there are things that take your life before they take your heartbeat.

It must not be that way for us. 10,000 years from now, we will all be living somewhere. 100,000 years from now all of this will be a distant memory for us, but we will not be just a memory. A million years from now. We will all be alive. Nothing should happen here to make us lose the will to live the plan that God has for us.

It is not the number of years you live while here that matter. It is the kind of life you live. A million years from now the life you live then will be a reflection of the life you live now. Life here is just a preparation for the life that is to come.

Lonnie Davis

The Millionth Customer

This generation thinks they invented reality television, but it was born almost as soon as television was invented. The old “Candid Camera” and “To Tell the Truth” programs used to put real people into hysterical situations. Years ago, one of those shows picked out three people as they were paying their bills at a grocery store in New York City. As the middle lady paid her bill, bells went off and balloons dropped from the ceiling. She was told she was the one millionth customer. Of course the other two were the number 999,999 and 1,000,001. Only the millionth customer was real, the others were plants. First they announced the prize for the customer number 999,999 – a trip to Europe. The 1,000,001 customer got her prize next – a trip around the world. At this point he millionth customer was overjoyed. If that is what the near winners got, she could only imagine her wonderful prize. Her prize? A walking tour of New York City. She was furious. She protested that since she was the millionth customer, she ought to have the biggest prize and did not want the walking tour.

Of course we know that she had done nothing to earn her gift. The “walking tour” was still more than she earned, but instead of being happy with what she was given, she compared her gift to what the other had received.

Aren’t you glad you don’t have this problem? You never compare yourself to someone else, do you? In case you don’t know it, that is facetiousness. It is a problem as old as mankind. Cain killed Able because Able was praised for his gift, while Cain was not (Gen 4:3-8). King Saul tried to kill young David because the people sang “Saul has slain his thousands.” That would have been okay, but then they sang David has slain his ten thousands (1 Samuel 18:7).

Do you know the secret of happiness? It is simple – learn to be content with what you have (Hebrews 13:5). Unhappy people focus on the things they do not have. They look around them and compare their possessions to the things and stuff and junk that others have. They imagine that they themselves are not blessed.

When we fail to look at all that God has given us and focus on all that we do not have, we will be miserable. We are all rich, when compared to someone. We are all poor, when compared to someone else. We are all great athletes compared to some and clumsy compared to someone else. We are all attractive when compared to some. We are all plain when compared to others. We would do well to remember, no matter how we are, we are exactly what God needs us to be.

Do not spend your life thinking about what others have that you do not have. Such a life will never have joy. Do not spend your live feeling like the millionth customer that ought to be given something. There is no happiness in that.

Lonnie Davis

Paul’s sermon was powerful. The Roman ruler had to deal with it. He found the perfect answer. It has been nearly 2,000 years and his solution is still the favorite one for those who do not wish to deal with a decision.

Felix spoke up and said, “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.” (Acts 24:25).

We have a word to describe this behavior – procrastination. I love the words of the poet:

Procrastination is my sin.
It gives me endless sorrow.
I have decided to give it up
And I will begin tomorrow.

We live in a society that rewards procrastination. We really do not give the early bird the worm. When is the best time to get great deals on Christmas gifts? The answer is: “On the first day after Christmas.” We do not reward the early, but rather we punish the tardy. If all taxes that were filed during January had an automatic 10% rebate, there would be little need to provide extensions to tax payers.

Why do we procrastinate? There are several reasons:
(1) Fear. We are afraid we will not succeed so we delay trying.
(2) Busyness. We stay busy doing good things but let that busyness crowd out the important things we ought to do.
(3) It works! By putting off hard tasks till tomorrow we really don’t have to deal with them today. Unfortunately a lot of our hard work is just the easy work that we did not do when it was still easy.

Here are some ways to overcome procrastination.

1. Quit lying to yourself.
Some people tell themselves that they work better under pressure and looking down the barrel of a deadline. No you don’t, it is just that you have waited till the last minute so often and now you have come to associate yourself with pressure. We work best in a calm environment.

2. Break it down.
Don’t put off the task because it is too big. Start with something, even if it seems insignificant. There is an old proverb that says, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

3. Make a list and be accountable to it.
Better yet, make the list the night before. It is always easier to think we will get up early the next morning to do the task that we could have done the night before.

The tragedy of life is not that it ends too soon, but that we wait too long to begin it!

Lonnie Davis

Jon Bennett loves to fish and hunt. Naturally his three sons inherited their daddy’s love of the outdoors. A few days ago he told them he was going squirrel hunting and naturally they wanted to go. He told the nearly five-year-old Dylan that he would take him, but wanted to make sure he understood what they were going to do.

“Son, were going to hunt for squirrels. Do you know what we will do when we see one?”
“We will shoot it,” Dylan said.
“What happens to the squirrel,” Jon asked.
Dylan said, “It will be dead.”
“Then what do we do?” dad asked.
Dylan thought for a minute and answered, “I don’t know.”
Jon said, “Well, we eat it.”
Dylan said, “I don’t like squirrel.”
“Well son,” Jon said, “If we kill it, we have to eat it. We don’t kill anything that we don’t eat. Are you okay with that?”
“Yes,” Dylan said.
“Son, are you willing to eat the squirrel?”
“Yes,” he said again. He paused and then he asked, “Can we take the fur off first.”

Though he did not want to eat fur, little Dylan was willing to do whatever he needed to do in order to do what he wanted to do and to please his father. There are two great truths in this story.

The first truth is this: people do what they have to do in order to do what they want to do. I want to hunt and if I have to eat fur, then I will. One of the wisest sayings I’ve ever heard was this: “To become what you want to become, you must do what you don’t want to do.”

The second truth is this: We must be willing to do anything for our father – our heavenly father. A four-year-old can’t possibly understand all the reasons why we have to eat what we kill, but daddy said it was so and so he believed his father. We may not understand all of God’s principles, but we have to trust that He knows best. At the end of our life we will be able to look back and see that our Father knew best all the time. I love the way one man put it, “Life can only be understood looking back, but must be lived looking forward. Just trust God. He will take care of you.

Next time God allows a hard task into your life, you can pray, “Do I have to eat the fur,” as long as you are willing to do whatever He calls on you to do.

Lonnie Davis

A nineteenth century preacher, Dwight L. Moody once said, “The measure of a man is not how many servants he has, but how many men he serves.” As wise as this is, it is merely a commentary on a statement of Jesus. “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.” (Mark 10:43-45)

These words by Jesus are not some cheap words born out of philosophy, but rather a principle that He lived by. Jesus affirms this by concluding with these words, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.” (Mark 10:45).

If you were to ask 100 preachers what the greatest need in the church today is, the answers might vary, but every answer would be rooted in leadership. No church outgrows its leaders. No church with great leaders can be mediocre. Great leaders bring greatness to themselves and others. “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.” Leadership is about serving others. We can also add, no family outgrows its leaders. No family with great leaders can be mediocre. Great leaders bring greatness to themselves and to their family.

Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s, became a wealthy man by living this principle. He was a high school dropout whose formal education included a G.E.D. He explained his life this way, ““I got my M.B.A. long before my G.E.D. At Wendy’s M.B.A. does not mean Master of Business Administration. It means Mop Bucket Attitude.” To the world, Dave was the leader of Wendy’s. To Dave, Dave was the head of the mop bucket brigade.

This was the way Jesus did leadership. On the last night he would spend with his disciples, he sat around the table with them. As they sat there, Jesus did a most surprising thing. “He got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” (John 13:4-5).

Jesus washed the feet of Peter, Andrew, James, John, and the others at the table – including Judas. They were shocked, but Jesus knew the secret. If you want to be great, you have to serve.

The church, your family, your workplace all need more people with a MBA – mop bucket attitude. Leaders with that kind of MBA are people who are not here to be served, but are here to serve others. These are true leaders.

Lonnie Davis

You don’t know his name, but in 1840, John Janney was the chairman of the Whig Party. Your teacher almost made you study his life. He is the man who was nearly President of the United States. Here is how it happened. The 1840 election was won by the Whigs. The new President was William Henry Harrison. His name you know. His Vice-President was John Tyler of Virginia who, of course, became President when Harrison died shortly after taking office. No one could have known, but in the election that year, the man who was Vice-President was destined to be President.

Here is the strange twist: at the nominating convention, John Tyler and John Janney were tied for votes to be the Vice-President. Only one man was left to vote and his vote would decide the nominee. That man who was still to vote was John Janney himself. John Janney did what was then considered to be the honorable thing. He voted for his opponent, John Tyler.

So you see, John Janney was the man who was nearly President of the United States. All he had to do was to vote for himself. There is a little bit of John Janney’s story in all of us. Maybe we weren’t nearly the President, but all of us can look back on our life and see something that we might have been. We might have been a business owner, a professional athlete, a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer, a nurse, or simply rich. We might have been, but we are not.

Of course, we can be happy where we are and whatever we are, but sometimes we get to thinking about what might have been. None of these “might have beens” ought to alarm us, but there is one “might have been” that I don’t want to look back on my life and regret. I do not want to come to my final day and say, “I might have been a Christian.” To live one’s life as a Christian is more important than living our life as an athlete, a teacher, or the President of the United States.

More than a century and a half later, we can look back on John Janney and realize that it does not matter today whether he served as President. Today all that matters to John Janney is whether he lived his life as a Christian.

There are many “might have been a Christian” stories out there. Millions who have been offered the chance to be Christians have delayed the call for a lifetime. A century from now, no one will remember their names or write about what they failed to become, but the story of rejecting Christ is sadder than that of nearly President, John Janney.

Lonnie Davis