February 3, 2026

Business by the Book

Genesis 24:15 And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder.

My parents moved to a small town which is just south of Fort Worth more than forty years ago. About twenty years ago a small piece of property was placed on the market that was across the street from my mom and dad. It was fifteen acres with the most hideous house anyone has ever seen. Upon seeing the real estate sign in the yard, my wife and I called the agent and arranged to see the house. We met with the agent and looked at the house. Neither of us cared for it, the property was nice but the house was deplorable.

We owned our house in one of the mid-cities which was about twenty five minutes from mom and dad. It was within our price range, yet we would have to sell our home, pack our stuff, move, and it really seemed like a huge hassle. After looking at the house we decided on the drive home that we would just stay put. We did not pray about it for even one second, just made our mind up and that was that. Shortly thereafter the house was sold to a family that became friends with my parents.

Then came the Barnett Shell phenomena. That fifteen acres began to generate about $2,000 per month in natural gas royalties. Had we prayed about that home, had we purposely put the decision in the hand of the Lord, He may have impressed upon us to buy that property. We would be close to Mom and Dad, and we would be receiving about $24,000 per year in gas royalties. Given a conservative estimate of that gas field being in production for 25 years it could have meant as much as $600,000 in our pockets. Opportunity missed, we should have at least prayed about it.

Abraham sent his top servant on a task to find his son, Isaac, a wife. Yesterday we read the servant’s prayer, today we read that his prayer was answered even before he finished praying. God can and does answer prayer. How many opportunities have been missed because of a lack of prayer? Each person reading this probably has an example of a missed opportunity. We can’t do anything about yesterday’s missed opportunities, but through prayer we can make sure we don’t miss tomorrows.

Dr. William Howe