The Cracked Acorn: That City

Two senior citizens were sitting on a courthouse bench, whittling and discussing the merits of being rich. A friend of theirs had most of what money could buy. As they listed what he had, they comically would say, “And I wouldn’t want to live like that!”

Some have the chance to “live like that” today.

If a family has two good incomes, it is possible to have an 8,000 sq. ft. home with four bedrooms and 4.5 baths and a three-car garage and swimming pool. When this happens, these families have to have help to keep their lives on an even keel. Pets will require lawn cleanup services. Dogs have to be walked, and people have to come and groom the animals.

There is the pet sitting if the family is away for a day or more. Executive Cleaning comes twice a week to get and return dry-cleaning. A-1 Mowing comes and does the lawn while another company is there to nurture the plants and flowers. A college student can be paid to take the teens to the mall and do errands for shut-in relatives. Groceries are ordered over the internet and delivered to the personal chef. The chef will prepare meals to await the arrival of family members.

With more and more Americans eating out, some of the large homes or mini-mansions are opting to have the builder leave out the kitchen. Meals are then bought over the cell phone and eaten in a small dining area.

If you can’t organize closets and the like, someone is available to do this while you are at work. Shop4You is a service that will run those gopher errands that you hate and wait for the repairmen to do plumbing, etc., while you are at work.

Last but not least! How about all that paper that seems to be forever attempting to bury you? Magazines are stacked everywhere. Books and paperbacks seem never to get back to the bookcase.

You have extracted articles from other sources that you find interesting but have never finished reading them. Catalogs, bulletins, brochures, and paper debris that suggests a purpose-eeks! You can’t find the time to deal with it!

Not to worry! While you are away on vacation or at work, a company will send an employee to organize this flotsam and jetsam of paper and put it into its proper place. A printed list with title and location of each offender will be given to you as often as you require it.

“that city where the ransomed will shine
I want a gold one that’s silver lined
I’ve got a mansion just over the hilltop
In that bright land where we’ll never grow old
And someday yonder we will never more wander
But walk on streets that are purest gold

Don’t think me poor or deserted or lonely
I’m not discouraged I’m heaven bound
I’m but a pilgrim in search of the city
I want a mansion, a harp, and a crown
I’ve got a mansion just over the hilltop
In that bright land where we’ll never grow old
And some day yonder we will never more wander
But walk on streets that are purest gold”

I’ve Got a Mansion Just Over the Hilltop
Words & Music By: Ira Stamphill

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. Hebrews 11:16 ESV