Jul52026
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“Yard By Yard, Life Is Hard. Inch By Inch, Life’s A Cinch”
My cousin and I were on a roof job together. My uncle, who was on top of the roof, yelled down for us to start bringing up the roof shingles. I reached down and shouldered an 80lb bundle and started up the two-storied ladder. My cousin was about to follow me when a young, pretty college girl about our age came by and asked my cousin, “Could you tell me how to get to Campion Center?” My cousin gave her some directions, but she was confused, so my helpful cousin said to her, “Oh, I will take you there.” Five bundles of shingles on top of the roof, later, my helpful cousin returned. He reached down to take up his first bundle. Before he could get the bundle on his shoulder, my uncle yelled from the roof, “Someone down there get the coffee.” My cousin replied, “Fine, I will get it.” Twelve bundles of shingles up on the roof, later he came back with the coffee. He took his coffee break. The moral of the story–you will not want to have my cousin as a work partner because you will end up doing all the work.
That is why farmers invented the yoke, so that one ox does not go under the shady tree having a coffee break while the other poor oxen does all the work. They share the load, fifty-fifty. Jesus does not describe His yoke as half the work, but as easy and light. What did he mean by that?
Jesus told Peter that he has to pay the temple tax so that they would not scandalize anyone. So, Peter paid the temple tax. Let’s say someone came along and asked him, “Where did you do to get the money to pay for the temple tax? Did you have to get a job carrying roof shingles up a two-story ladder, plow a field, or lug bricks to build the pyramid? If you or I needed to earn money to pay a bill, the last thing you or I would do is take the day off, go fishing, and hope to find the money in the mouth of the fish. Yet, you can do that when your work partner makes tasks easy and light.
Let’s say we had the task of lugging large boulders from one end of the field to the other. We have two options: the hard way and the easy way. We could pick up a boulder one at a time and walk it down, thinking, “I got this.” Or we can choose the easy way and use a pick-up truck. In life we encounter there are many burdens and hard tasks. Always remember that there are always two options: the hard way, or the easy way.

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