On a couple of occasions, I have told a comical anecdote to Randy, to which he would reply, "Ya know, that would make a great bulletin article." While he is probably right, sometimes it's not that easy to take an everyday occurrence (liking eating green eggs and ham) and put it into a format that would be appropriate and edifying for the congregation. That's a wonderful gift he has.

Randy was however my inspiration to write an article. He capitalized on my personal goal of not letting other people down. For example, worse than any spanking my mother ever gave me was the feeling I had after she told me, "Tom - I'm very disappointed in you." But I digress. What I have learned by looking back is that I had a good conscience and when I did things that violated my conscience, I felt very very guilty. (Just as God intended.) Not that I'm riddled with guilt for the things I do, but you can easily get me to do things by making me feel guilty for not doing them.

Randy, unwittingly, used this to his advantage to take a week off from writing these articles. Although I never promised to write an article, he made me feel guilty that I hadn't written one earlier. Did he think I had committed to write one before and was now weaseling out of the promise? Had I let my brother down?

It got me to realize that oftentimes people make promises to themselves or others and then don't follow through. Maybe you made a New Year's Resolution or a promise to a friend that you didn't keep. Maybe the promise was to your spouse about putting your laundry in the hamper. (Not me.) Or maybe, you promised God that you would try to be a better servant of His.

How often do people say, "God, if you'll get me out of this ... I'll do..." Well, God did get us out of (fill in the blank for yourself). Are you living up to your end of the bargain? By sending His Son to die for us, we have gotten the opportunity to get out of an eternity of pain. Are you doing what you need to do to escape it? Do you still have a good conscience that warns you when you are about to go against His will? I hope you do.

I thank God for what he has given me. And I thank Randy (and the elders), for letting me reflect on my guilty feelings. But be careful what you tell Randy or you may find yourself writing a bulletin, too.

Tom Mattox