A few people who likely need a hobby subscribe to this modest effort to get an occasional laugh. I have to warn you that recent events in my world have temporarily suspended the shows at Dave’s Chuckle Hut…one show daily…tip your blogger. Readers of yesterday’s post know that a dear friend died this week and with that comes a lot of reflection.

I admit that I sporadically sample country music and one song oddly resonated with me this week. Kenny Chesney has had his own struggles lately but his recording of ‘The Good Stuff’ should remind all of us about what really matters. The song revolves around a man who has his first real fight with his new wife and he leaves in search of some liquid comfort at a local bar. The bartender walks up and asks him what it will be…

I said,”The good stuff”
He didn’t reach around for the whiskey
He didn’t pour me a beer
His blue eyes kind of went misty
He said, “You can’t find that here.”

That could not be more true. You cannot find the good stuff in a bar, a career, a house, a car, or any material possessions or pleasures. Please understand that I am not an uptight, suck the air out of the party stereotypical religious type. Those who know me will report that I love to laugh. But the message is where we find the good stuff.

Cause its the first long kiss on a second date
your momma’s all worried when you get home late
Droppin’ the ring in the spaghetti plate
cause your hands are shakin’ so much
It’s the way that she looks with the rice in her hair
Eatin’ burnt suppers the whole first year
and askin’ for seconds to keep her from tearin’ up
Yeah man, that’s the good stuff

As we recalled a life that had just ended the conversation was all about the good stuff. Talk of career and the square footage of houses and cost of wardrobes never surfaced. That no longer mattered. And the truth is that it never really did. The bartender in the song had lost his wife to cancer and then spent years in alcoholic denial.

But I’ve been sober 3 years now
‘Cause the one thing stronger than the whiskey

Was the sight of her holdin’ my baby girl
The way she adored that string of pearls
I gave her the day that our youngest boy Earl,
married his high school love
and it’s a new t-shirt saying “I’m a grandpa”
and being right there as our time got small,
And holdin’ her hand when the good Lord called her up
Yeah man, That’s the good stuff

He said, ”When you get home she’ll start to cry,
When she says, I’m sorry,” say ”So am I”
Then look into those eyes so deep in love
and drink it up
‘Cause thats the good stuff
That’s the good stuff

I am getting better at discerning and treasuring the good stuff. I am getting slightly better at not allowing the irritants of life to rob me of the good stuff. Every day is a treasure. Every day that you can look into the eyes of those you love is a gift. Jesus knew what the good stuff was all about. He wasn’t a cosmic killjoy trying to keep us from pleasure. Jesus taught us what mattered.

• What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?   Luke 9  NIV

Loving your family. Having friends who will be there when things are rough. Knowing that you and those you love have a relationship with the living God. That’s the good stuff. Don’t let the world tell you otherwise.