There are a lot of folks around these days who seem to be ready to unload a bit of their discouragement and depression upon you. A man tells that it seemed every time he walked in the door, as he came home from work, his wife would pounce on him with long tales of woe about the day's calamities and problems. Finally, he sat down and talked about it with her. He said that, after some discussion, she agreed that before she hit him with the day's disasters, she would at least let him first sit down and eat his dinner. But the very next evening, as he walked in the door from work, his wife met him at the door as usual. She said, "Honey, hurry up and eat your dinner. I have something terrible to tell you!"

In today's text there is a request for a cheerful word, too. Paul is on his first missiona…