I usually do all the grocery shopping for my husband and myself, I like to chose the correct products and of course this is a gift given to women, we just know the best bargains. There are some brand names which according to commercials are simply the best and cannot be substituted. A few weeks ago my husband was going right by the grocery store and we needed some oats for a special rhubarb dessert he had requested so he agreed to make this little side trip and purchase the oats plus a few other items we needed. My husband was raised in a different world than I was, he has three brothers and a sister so his mother had to put food on the table for seven people and she taught her children well how to save when possible. This teaching kicked in while my husband was shopping for the oats and he proudly brought home a generic brand of oats saving at least $1.

I was unfamiliar with the packaging and said to him, "But there's no little Quaker Man, with the fine looking hat." I was just giving him a hard time as I was sure the substitute oats would be fine in the particular dish I was going to bake, but we kidded back and forth about his thriftiness and that it would be his fault if the rhubarb was ruined.

I went about my other activities and didn't think about the situation again until I picked up the oats to begin cooking with, I noticed that my clever husband had drawn the little Quaker Man on the substitute box of oats, hat and all, "Oh fine," I laughed, " now they will taste the same for sure."

My point of this little story is that there are some things we can definitely substitute and no one will ever know the difference. I would have never known the difference because the oats where just as good as the ones with the real Quaker Man on the front of the box.

Recently in a Bible study we discussed the way some people are substituting words in the Bible, leaving out certain portions and adding words where necessary. It can't be done. God gave us each and every word just as He wanted them, to be read with His guidance and understanding, it's His way of loving us and teaching us, we must be faithful to read His Word and let Him communicate with us. How can anyone possibly change it to what they think is better?

"God breathed." That's what sticks in my mind most. Modern translations are very helpful and are most times easier to understand but the message remains the same, they haven't changed the content or meaning. There are no substitutes, no little drawings that make a false product of the Bible the same as the real thing.

May God bless you as you read His Word and find the love and peace He offers.

Alice Walsh