By Greg Miller © 2019

Emerson’s favorite dessert was homemade pumpkin pie.

Homemade peach pie was definitely the favorite post-meal snack for Elizabeth, Emerson’s wife.

God had gifted both Elizabeth and Emerson with great baking skills, so Emerson was able to whip up a peach pie for Elizabeth in nearly record time. Elizabeth, too, could quickly bake a pumpkin pie for her beloved.

For every official holiday and for many days that weren’t considered official holidays, Elizabeth and Emerson took turns baking a pie for each other. On their birthdays, however, both Emerson and Elizabeth enjoyed a hefty portion of both kinds of pie.

Emerson thought Elizabeth’s homemade pumpkin pie was the best he had ever tasted. “You make the world’s best pumpkin pie,” he bragged.

“Thanks, honey,” Elizabeth said, “but your homemade peach pie is absolutely terrific, too!”

The couple decided to throw a special party featuring their special desserts to celebrate the arrival of spring. “We’ll invite the whole neighborhood!” exclaimed Emerson.

“The whole neighborhood?” Elizabeth inquired. “We’ll invite the entire city!”

“But we don’t have a room big enough for a crowd that large,” replied Emerson. “We’ll have to rent a banquet hall. This is a magnificent metropolis, so I’m sure there’s an abundance of banquet halls.”

“Even if all we’re going to have is dessert, we still need to have a speaker for the event,” said Elizabeth. “And you’re the best public speaker I know, so you’ll be the speaker won’t you?”

“Sure, if you really want me to,” said Emerson. “I’ll even toss in a little humor.”

“That will be fine, honey,” said Elizabeth. “Just don’t throw it too high and too fast, because we don’t want to have to clean it off the walls.”

“That’s true,” said Emerson. “I know the last thing I want to do is to produce a bunch of off-the-wall humor.”

“See,” laughed Elizabeth, “you’re already starting to practice your punch lines on me.”

“And you’re already laughing,” chuckled Emerson. “You should try to save some of the laughing for the actual performance.”

“We should also turn the event into a contest, to see whether more people prefer your peach pie to my pumpkin pie,” said Elizabeth.

“What will the prizes be?” asked Emerson.

“Oh, that’s easy,” grinned Elizabeth. “As the winner, I’ll look forward to you baking one of your peach pies for me every week for a year.”

“What will the loser receive?” asked Emerson.

“As the loser, you’ll not get one of my pumpkin pies every week for a year.”

“Sounds like you’ve already got the agenda planned out, dear.”

“I most certainly do!” replied Elizabeth. “I most certainly do!”

To contact the writer of this column about speaking engagements (in the U.S.), including Christian Comedy Fundraising Outreaches, Christian Creativity Seminars and/or puppet ministry, please email [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected], with “Rays of Son” or “Request Speaking Engagement” in the subject line.

By Greg Miller  2018

 Greg is retired from the Elizabethton STAR Newspaper, after working there for almost 23 years. He now freelances for the paper. Contact email address is [email protected], also facebook.com/kidcool4jesus. Available for speaking engagements/other ministries. Jesus is Lord