By Greg Miller
PABLO and Petra had been happy and joyfully married for about five years.
Both Pablo and Petra believed that a close relationship with the Lord was a key factor in their successful marriage. They awoke early each morning with smiles on their faces and songs in their hearts.
“We praise you for who you are,” the couple prayed in unison. “Your omnipotence, your omnipresence and your omniscience!”
In addition to praising God for who He was, Pablo and Petra thanked the Lord for their many blessings. “Lord I thank you for forgiving our sins,” Pablo prayed. “I thank you for giving such a wonderful wife to me.”
“I thank you for giving Pablo to me,” Petra prayed. “He’s the best husband in the whole wide world. Thank you for our children, and for providing a good-paying job for Pablo.”
Pablo and Petra’s reputation for continually praising God and being thankful became well-known throughout their community. Pastor Parker was impressed by the couple’s constant praise and thanksgiving.
The pastor asked Pablo and Petra to lead a special seminar to help the church’s other members learn the importance of those two qualities. The congregation was very interested in learning about the effects that praise and thanksgiving could have on their own individual relationship with God.
Both Pablo and Petra had the ability to speak before an audience with conviction and confidence. They realized, however, that those qualities by themselves weren’t enough to convey the needed message. They knew God’s power moving in each heart was the most important factor in lives being changed.
At the end of the seminar, a man approached Pablo and Petra and introduced himself. “My name is Pedro, and I pastor a church in a nearby town,” he said. “I would like to invite you to present this program about praise and thanksgiving in my church. My congregation truly loves the Lord, but they need a little boost in the thanksgiving and praise departments.”
“We’d love to present the program to your congregation,” Pablo and Petra spoke as one voice.
“What will you charge us to present the program?” Pastor Pedro asked.
“We don’t charge anything, sir,” Pablo and Petra replied.
Pablo, Petra and Pastor Pedro set the date for the seminar. “By the way, Pastor Pedro remarked. “We’re having our monthly fellowship dinner immediately following the seminar. And I insist the two of you stay and eat a home-cooked meal with us!”
“Thank you, pastor,” said Pablo. “If we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that church people can prepare the best home-cooked meals in the world! And we love that kind of food!”
Read another story: Bunnies’ day out
Greg Miller can be contacted at raysofson [at] gmail [dot] com“>raysofson [at] gmail [dot] com for speaking engagements, including Christian Comedy Fundraising Outreaches, Christian Creativity Seminars and/or puppet ministry.
