Lonnie's Notes

The Millionth Customer

This generation thinks they invented reality television, but it was born almost as soon as television was invented. The old “Candid Camera” and “To Tell the Truth” programs used to put real people into hysterical situations. Years ago, one of those shows picked out three people as they were paying their bills at a grocery store in New York City. As the middle lady paid her bill, bells went off and balloons dropped from the ceiling. She was told she was the one millionth customer. Of course the other two were the number 999,999 and 1,000,001. Only the millionth customer was real, the others were plants. First they announced the prize for the customer number 999,999 – a trip to Europe. The 1,000,001 customer got her prize next – a trip around the world. At this point he millionth customer was overjoyed. If that is what the near winners got, she could only imagine her wonderful prize. Her prize? A walking tour of New York City. She was furious. She protested that since she was the millionth customer, she ought to have the biggest prize and did not want the walking tour.

Of course we know that she had done nothing to earn her gift. The “walking tour” was still more than she earned, but instead of being happy with what she was given, she compared her gift to what the other had received.

Aren’t you glad you don’t have this problem? You never compare yourself to someone else, do you? In case you don’t know it, that is facetiousness. It is a problem as old as mankind. Cain killed Able because Able was praised for his gift, while Cain was not (Gen 4:3-8). King Saul tried to kill young David because the people sang “Saul has slain his thousands.” That would have been okay, but then they sang David has slain his ten thousands (1 Samuel 18:7).

Do you know the secret of happiness? It is simple – learn to be content with what you have (Hebrews 13:5). Unhappy people focus on the things they do not have. They look around them and compare their possessions to the things and stuff and junk that others have. They imagine that they themselves are not blessed.

When we fail to look at all that God has given us and focus on all that we do not have, we will be miserable. We are all rich, when compared to someone. We are all poor, when compared to someone else. We are all great athletes compared to some and clumsy compared to someone else. We are all attractive when compared to some. We are all plain when compared to others. We would do well to remember, no matter how we are, we are exactly what God needs us to be.

Do not spend your life thinking about what others have that you do not have. Such a life will never have joy. Do not spend your live feeling like the millionth customer that ought to be given something. There is no happiness in that.

Lonnie Davis

Paul’s sermon was powerful. The Roman ruler had to deal with it. He found the perfect answer. It has been nearly 2,000 years and his solution is still the favorite one for those who do not wish to deal with a decision.

Felix spoke up and said, “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.” (Acts 24:25).

We have a word to describe this behavior – procrastination. I love the words of the poet:

Procrastination is my sin.
It gives me endless sorrow.
I have decided to give it up
And I will begin tomorrow.

We live in a society that rewards procrastination. We really do not give the early bird the worm. When is the best time to get great deals on Christmas gifts? The answer is: “On the first day after Christmas.” We do not reward the early, but rather we punish the tardy. If all taxes that were filed during January had an automatic 10% rebate, there would be little need to provide extensions to tax payers.

Why do we procrastinate? There are several reasons:
(1) Fear. We are afraid we will not succeed so we delay trying.
(2) Busyness. We stay busy doing good things but let that busyness crowd out the important things we ought to do.
(3) It works! By putting off hard tasks till tomorrow we really don’t have to deal with them today. Unfortunately a lot of our hard work is just the easy work that we did not do when it was still easy.

Here are some ways to overcome procrastination.

1. Quit lying to yourself.
Some people tell themselves that they work better under pressure and looking down the barrel of a deadline. No you don’t, it is just that you have waited till the last minute so often and now you have come to associate yourself with pressure. We work best in a calm environment.

2. Break it down.
Don’t put off the task because it is too big. Start with something, even if it seems insignificant. There is an old proverb that says, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

3. Make a list and be accountable to it.
Better yet, make the list the night before. It is always easier to think we will get up early the next morning to do the task that we could have done the night before.

The tragedy of life is not that it ends too soon, but that we wait too long to begin it!

Lonnie Davis