There is an old joke that circulates frequently in preaching journals and on the Internet. It serves to bring me back to earth when I think about my own preaching. It is one of those stories whose origin is unknown.

Just before going into surgery a pastor's wife told him that should she not survive the surgery, he should be sure to check the shoebox under their bed. She went into surgery, he to the waiting room. "Shoebox under the bed?" he thought. Their home was nearby. She would be in surgery for quite a while. He hurried home, discovered the shoebox. In it was about $10,000 and three eggs.

The wife came through the surgery just fine. The pastor soon confessed to her that he had checked out the shoebox, and he asked her to explain the contents.

She began, "Well soon after we were married I realized I didn't want to be a criticizing spouse, so I decided that every time you gave a sermon that I thought 'laid an egg,' I would simply put an egg in the shoebox and let that be that."

The pastor thought, "Thirty-one years of marriage and only three eggs, not bad!"

As he was beginning to feel good about his record, his wife continued: "And then anytime I had a dozen eggs, I would sell them and put the money in the shoebox."

I hope this sermon doesn't lay an egg, but there's always that chance....