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• After we exchanged some personal niceties and followed up on the weather report from each of our locations, we finally got down to the real business of the phone call.
• I must confess I was not expecting such pleasantries from an IRS agent. I assumed she had the telephone in one hand and a loaded, fully cocked revolver in the other. If she did, she concealed it most admirably.
• Then we got down to the nitty-gritty of what the IRS is all about: collecting taxes from potentially delinquent taxpayers, like myself. The thought that I deliberately was delinquent was rather humiliating for me. Simply put, I just did not pay enough in, but this telephone call was going to rectify all of that.
• After she crunched all the figures and as I waited patiently on my end of the phone, she was able to determine I owed the government an arm and a leg. It was then that the negotiations began in earnest.
• I must confess she could not have been any nicer had she been my grandmother.
• She then began to query as to which arm and which leg I was going to give to the government. This presented a real difficult decision on my part. Throughout the years, I have grown quite fond of both arms and both legs. Then I asked her if I could counter a proposal. She replied in the affirmative.
• "Would you consider," I began rather slowly, "an arm OR a leg?"
• There was a pause on the other and of the phone when I could tell she was thinking. Whenever you get a government employee to think, watch out. I could hear the old wheels grinding and grinding. Finally, she said, "I think that would be acceptable. And, I'll even allow you to select either arm or leg. We like to work with people."
• Now the burden was on me. I now owed the government an arm OR a leg and I just had to select which one. I first considered my arms. In thinking about them, I use both of my arms although the left one less than the right one every day. What with writing and eating my arms are rather busy throughout the day.
• Then I considered my legs. I like my right leg and so the choice became rather easy for me. Now, the United States government has at least one leg to stand on, thanks to Yours Truly.
• I have something greater to stand on.
• "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage" (Galatians 5:1 KJV).
• Jesus Christ trumps Uncle Sam when it comes to liberty.
• Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God Fellowship, PO Box 831313, Ocala, FL 34483. He lives with his wife, Martha, in Silver Springs Shores. Call him at 1-866-552-2543 or e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net. His web site is www.jamessnyderministries.com