Volume 04 | Issue 03

Basic Cow

The following article appeared as Dan Yeary’s Column in University Baptist, Coral Gables, Florida.

“William Hamilton of Cold Spring, Kentucky, has a friend who is a farmer. It seems this friendly farmer had been thoroughly taken many times by a certain car dealer in town. Then one day the car dealer informed the farmer that he was ‘looking to buy a cow.’ When he arrived he found that the gleeful farmer had attached the following price information to the cow’s side:

Basic Cow $500.00
Two-Tone Exterior 55.00
Extra Stomach 75.00
Product Storing Compartment 60.00
Hay Cutter 120.00
Four Spigots 50.00
Cowhide Upholstery 130.00
Dual Horns 20.00
Automatic Fly Swatter 38.00
Fertilizer Attachment 185.00
Total $1,233.00

The farmer’s itemized inventory should have made a point with the car dealer. I wonder, if the same idea could be applied to the church? What do you think ‘Basic Church’ really costs? The next time I react to another appeal for support I might do well to itemize what basics and extras that church gives to me.

Basic cow or basic church? The price list is non-negotiable. Whatever the cost, the church is worth more than I could ever pay regardless of my faithfulness.”