Hi, all. Just a thought to help start your weekend. 

Not much any more, but generations older than we are once did a lot of their everyday shopping at what was called a “general store.” A general store, like this one in the heart of the town of Black Mountain, North Carolina, carried a little bit of just about anything you could need.

You might find fresh yard eggs, bins of grain, and tubs of nails. You might find an almanac or some other such reading material. You would probably find an unusual cold bottled soda and perhaps choose a stick of hard candy from the many flavors in the large glass jar on the front counter. When I was a young boy, some 45 years ago or so, my siblings and cousins and I would walk those two or three blocks from our grandparents’ house to the little old grocery store with its bare board floors. There we would count out just enough loose pieces of true “penny candy” to be able to buy it and pay the sales tax with the one dollar bill we had each been handed. It was like the old store allowed us to take a step back in time.

A general store. A simpler time. A kinder people. We need so much of that.

God’s Word, if you’ll allow me to make the analogy, could be seen as a general store — a storehouse of knowledge and so many little treasures. Turning the pages and scanning the words of the Scripture remind us of God’s goodness, of the simplicity of His love for us. It reminds us that our world is full of different flavors and opportunities. And it doesn’t even require much to get something from it.

Although I should want to spend more time in His Word, even just a small amount, counted out to make it last through the day, will carry me further than I could imagine trying to go without it. God’s Word is a general store, waiting to be explored.  I dare you to step inside today, explore the shelves of opportunity that lay before you, meet some folks who will make you feel right at home, and get back to the simpler things in life, like loving on our neighbors.

Just a thought.

’Til later.

Rev. Brad Campbell can be reached at mastah.pastah@yahoo.com.