The missionaries never knew what was happening. They didn't know they were being poisoned, and they didn't know why they were dying. They stayed and died because they trusted Jesus. And it was the way they died that taught others how to live.

"Keep the change." Today I want to tie that phrase to the whole idea of change. Life should not be static, but dynamic. Change should be a value in all our lives. We need to be constantly changing for the good. And when we do, we should, "Keep the change."

Tom Black used to say that the church was to be a hospital for sinners, not a sanctuary for saints. For most of our history, I think we have held true to that value. We are here to have compassion, not to condemn.

There is a story about a man who worked the four to midnight shift. His walk home led him past a cemetery. When he was in a hurry and the moon was full, he would take a short-cut through the cemetery. But one black night, he fell into a freshly dug grave.

People think of their bread as coming from investments, or from a business, or from an employer, but this prayer would remind us that these are merely the temporary channels through which God's blessings come. The ultimate source of all our bread is God.

I saw on television this week a woman who had lost $2 1/2 million in the Madoff scandal. Can you imagine? Another attorney said she had her whole retirement savings invested with him and lost it all. She said, "Now I will be working until I am 95." It has been a vivid reminder that life is far more insecure than we like to think.

"Every tub must sit on its own bottom" seems to be obvious. A tub can't very well sit on another tub's bottom. The meaning, of course, is that people have to be responsible for themselves.