One Sunday a pastor told his congregation that the church needed some extra money for a special mission project. He asked the people to consider putting a little extra in the offering plate. He added that whoever gave the most that day would be able to pick three hymns in the worship service. When the offering plates were brought forward the pastor glanced down and noticed that someone had written a check for $1000. Excited, he immediately shared this news with the congregation and said he would like to thank personally the person who gave such a large gift. He asked who the donor was. A shy, elderly woman sitting in the back slowly raised her hand. The pastor asked her to come to the front of the church. She stood there nervously as the pastor praised her and then he asked her to pick out three hymns. Her eyes brightened as she looked over the congregation. Pointing to the three best looking men in the building, she said, "I'll take him and him and him!" This morning I’m going to talk about that dreaded five letter word…tithe. Before you close your ears, I want you to consider a different way of looking at the tithe. Imagine you're up on the 70th floor of the Empire State Building. Suddenly a man opens the window and says he's going to jump. You call out, "Stop. Don't do it." "Try to stop me and I'll take you with me." Noting that the guy is 6-foot-5, you say, "No problem. Have a safe trip. Any last messages?" He says, "Let me tell you my troubles. My wife left me, my kids won't talk to me, I lost my job and my pet turtle died." After an hour of stories like this, you're so depressed you're ready to jump with him. Finally he turns to you and says, "Tell me - why should I go on living?" What do you say? Suddenly you get a flash of inspiration. "Sir, close your eyes for a minute. Now I want you to imagine that you are blind. No colors, no sights of children playing, no fields of flowers, no sunset ... Now imagine that suddenly there's a miracle. You open your eyes and you can see. Are you going to j...