A small town newspaper ran a story about a woman and her parakeet, Chippie. It seems that the woman was vacuuming Chippie’s cage with a canister vacuum cleaner, the kind with a metal tube with various attachments. She was cleaning the cage without the attachments when

the phone rang. She turned her head to pick up the phone, when she heard the horrible sound of Chippie being sucked into the vacuum cleaner. Immediately, she put down the phone, ripped open the vacuum bag, and found Chippie stunned, but alive. Since the bird was covered with soot and dust, she grabbed him, ran into the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held Chippie under the water to clean him off. When she finished that, she spotted the hairdryer on the bathroom counter. She turned it on and held the bird in front of the blast of hot air to dry him off.

That’s the kind of human interest (or animal interest) story that newspapers like to print once in a while, so they sent a reporter to interview the woman. The reporter concluded the interview by asking, How’s Chippie doing now?”

She replied, “Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore. He just sits and stares.”

Any Chippie’s at out there?

 I thank God for all of you who put discipleship into action, who know that a sense of servanthood and mission make us strong. It is a beautiful song of praise to the Lord.

Rev. Don Thomas