A Note from Tom: July 9th

Hey, everyone!

Or as they say in the mother country, “Top o’ th’ mornin’ t’ ya, mates!”

Just happened to be thinking about the Brits this morning because I heard yesterday that they have calculated that in order for the English to have their Queen (and pay for all the other “royals”…and pay for Buckingham Palace…and for all the horses and carriage upkeep…and pay those stiff guard dudes with the tall, fuzzy hats…and for everything else it takes to have a monarchy), it cost per person per year a total of …94 cents!

Wow!

 That’s a deal, if you ask me! If you have to have a queen and all, it’s better to have one who’s a bargain! The royal family costs 38,200,000 pounds last year (comes out to about $58 mill) but the Queen threw in about 6.5 million pounds of her own to make it all come out even!

And think about what they get for less than a dollar a year!

I know some think the royal fam should have gone the way of colonization and a king having eight wives. The BBC recently asked readers what they thought of still having a queen in Buckingham Palace in the 21st century.

One dude wrote in…

“What does the royal family do, exactly? Not much from where I'm sitting. I understand they get a good hourly rate, though.” 
Dave, UK

But others say that it’s cool to have someone who gives you a link to the glory days of the Empire. Plus, lots of people work for the Royals, polishing doorknockers and scooping horse stuff, which helps the economy. AND…the royal family is a big tourism thing. Surely they make more pounds off tourism than 94 cents a year!!

I vote (not that I get one)…keep it! It’s cool.

Ever wonder how much it would cost for you to have a king?

For Jesus to be your King, it doesn’t really cost anything!

He said, “Come to me all you who are weary and weighed down…” Just come. That’s all it costs.

But when you really come to Him, you find that He is moving. And you have to decide if you want to follow the King where He’s going. And He said that THAT will cost you! “If anyone wants to follow Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. (Matthew 16. 24)

It will cost you a cross to your dreams, your plans, yourself. It will cost you everything.

So what if you don’t think it’s a good deal? What if you think that’s too much to pay to have a King? What if you don’t think you can afford it?

Jesus said that you can’t afford not to follow Him.

He said that if you try to keep yourself for yourself and not let Him rule you, it will cost you more than you want to pay. It will cost you your life!

“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Matt 16.25)

If you don’t let Him have it all…you’ll pay more than you ever imagined!

It will cost you…

…the joy you could have had and didn’t.

…the struggles you could have avoided but didn’t.

…the time you shouldn’t have wasted, but did.

…the good you could’ve done, but didn’t.

…the friends you could’ve made but didn’t.

…the changes you could’ve known, but didn’t.

I guess the Brits have to decide if 94c is too much to have a Queen.

You can’t afford to not have Jesus be your King!