Have you ever looked at the perks that come with it?

Have you ever looked at the perks that come with it?

Have you ever stopped and looked at the sales pitch that is put on most things today that you might shop for?

Well, I have, and let me tell you, it is a total bombardment — with promises that sound almost too good to be true, and a lot of them more and likely are. Alot of them scream to the top of their voices and get in your face so that you want have time to think enough about it to change your mind, because they just can't afford for that to happen and them stay in business.

They have all kind of names for a lot of these sales. One that used to make me smile is the letters “BOGO,” and I remember that the first time I saw it, I thought they were selling some kind of toy for kids to jump up and down on. Shows just how much shopping that I do and how much I try to get out of it.

Anyway I found out later by someone telling me that it meant “buy one get one,” and you know me, the skeptic that I am, I thought maybe that is all honest, but with me I'm thinking they probably raised the price on the “buy one” to help make up the loss on the “get one” if there is a loss. I'm still not convinced that they don't do it that way.

What they hope to find with all these promotions is someone that just can't pass up a bargain and believe me there are millions out there and only you know if you are one of them or not. I keep hearing from a lot of people that the perks that come with that thing on sale just can't be beat. So there is something else for me to think about when I get ready to buy something new instead of just buying it I got to find out how many perks come with it.

Now I have something else to worry about and that would be “are they giving enough perks for the money they are asking?” So this brings on more headaches. It seems that everything that is for sale today has got to the point that you got to do a lot of research on it before you buy it to see if you are getting a good deal or not and you got to take in the entire perks thing and the sale thing.

I can tell you first hand that I don't do a lot of shopping and to prove my point, the other day I was going to the store for something and I had grab my favorite jeans and put them on and was headed out the door, when out of nowhere I hear a voice saying, “surely you are not going to the store looking like that.” Now thinking that I have a good answer for that statement I say, “I sure am. Why? That was not the answer that my precious little wife was looking for, because the next words out of her mouth were, “no, you are not.”

Now as I turned around to head back to the closet I thought about what I had on and thought, “just what is wrong with what I'm wearing?” Now you notice I said “thought” and not “said,” because after 57 years of marriage I taught myself to think and not say. Now I know a lot of you guys are saying, “wait a minute my word is law at my house,” and I say yeah, as far as the dog and cat go (and probably not the cat because you know what they say you don't own a cat they own you).

Now the thing that brought me back to my not shopping thing is when I went to buy a new pair of jeans and got up to the register to pay and was told the price, I thought surely someone had switched the price on these jeans and put the price of two new suits with shirts and ties and a belt on them, because the last time I bought a new pair they were $7. Now the clerk had a good laugh and I'm thinking, “what did I say that was funny?” But it made me realize that I need to go shopping with my wife a lot more so that it want be such a sticker shock to me. The reason that I went into all that selling stuff was to bring you around to another bargain with so many perks that you can't handle all of them. The price cost so much that we should all be amazed that we could even afford it but we are all carrying around more that enough to get this bargain.

Now when I say the cost is free, and I know the first thing you are saying is nothing is free, and I know the old saying there is no free lunch but I beg to differ with you because to you it is free, now this is not to say that someone didn't pay a big price for it so that you could get it for free. It's been around a long time but it's still brand new. Let me say this from the heart that it is the very best deal you can ever get especially when it's for free and all it takes is for you to ask for it and really show in your heart that you want it, not deserve it but want it, so that you can one day when all of this life is over you can stand in front of the master of the universe and say here in my heart is the ticket I want to show you so that I can come and live with you for ever and here is my name written in this big book.

The greatest thing when you do that is to hear those beautiful words welcome home and come on in and also hear him say Peter show our new arrival their new home. Now I know I went a round about way of saying if you want to go to Heaven then you must have this free gift to show the father when that time comes. Because if you don't take that gift here then you will have the other free ride forced on you also and then you will be with your father which rules over the dark world. So God bless every one of you and may the spirit of God touch your heart in such a way that you have a desire for that free gift.

Bill McFerrin is a West Memphis man with some things to say and a certain way of saying them.

By Bill McFerrin Local Commentary