Numbers - What do they mean???

Some folks love numbers. They like fiddling with them. My wife is always writing numbers on scraps of paper she finds around the house. I don't know what some of them are. When the children were small I told them to not stand still for very long because their Mom would probably write a grocery list on their foreheads or scribble some numbers on them. She is a lover of numbers. Maybe it is not the numbers themselves, but what they represent. There are those who love to dink with numbers because those numbers represent money. Still others are always writing down numbers that represent dates. Numbers tend to be inflexible. That can be a little irritating at times. If only I could move the decimal on my bank account numbers or if, for just a little while, I could suspend the rigidity of numbers and make 10 times 100 equal 1 million. That would be nice.

I think about numbers. In fact, I was pondering numbers at 3:00 this morning. The numbers that I think about are church numbers. But it is not what you may think. I don't worry too much about the money. We have good and godly people in our church that do that so I don't figure I have to do that so much. But, I do have some prayerful concern (I would never admit to worry!) over the numbers representing our attendance. They are not growing, they are shrinking. Why? The attendance numbers are not the ultimate measure of God's blessing. But, neither should they be ignored. So, whether I like numbers or not, I am thinking about them these days. And, I am also thinking about other numbers - like Christmas Gift Numbers and the days I have left to buy Christmas Gift Numbers and the amount of money I have to spend on Christmas Gift Numbers and how much should I spend on Christmas Gift Numbers in light of the advancement of the gospel in the world. Oh my, numbers can really be upsetting at times.