Young Jonathan, who had been promised a new puppy for his tenth birthday, had a tough time choosing between a dozen likely candidates at the neighborhood pet shop. Finally he decided upon one nondescript shaggy pup who was wagging his tail furiously. Explained Jonathan, “I want the one with the happy ending.”
Everyone loves a story with a happy ending. Anita and I prefer to watch older movies on TCM because they tend to have a happy ending. I have invested my life in other people because I love seeing happy endings in their lives. Trouble tends to rob our happiness, but standing firm in the faith through those trials brings about the happy ending we desire.
Today is a day when you can help bring about a happy ending in someone else’s life. Speak words of hope to them no matter what they throw back. Show God’s compassion like “Chris” did to the bag lady in our skit last weekend. Don’t take an offense but be a friend to the friendless.
Tags: adoption, Caring, encouragement, resurrection
Two hundred miles northeast of Los Angeles is a baked-out gorge called Death Valley – the lowest place in the United States, dropping 276 feet below sea level. It is also the hottest place in the country, with an official recording of 134°. Streams flow into Death Valley only to disappear, and a scant two and a half inches of rain falls on the barren wasteland each year.
But, several years ago, an amazing thing happened. For nineteen straight days rain fell onto that bone-dry earth. Suddenly all kinds of seed, dormant for years, burst into bloom. In a valley of death there was life!
That is the Easter message. A desert becomes a garden. Beauty transcends the ugly. Love outwits and outlasts hatred. A tomb is emptied. The grim and haunting outline of a cross disappears in the glow of Easter morning. Easter is only three months away; let’s prepare to celebrate.
Tags: death, desert, dry, resurrection
A boy was playing with his pet turtle when all at once the turtle turned blue, fell over on his back and lay motionless. Upset, the boy ran in to tell his father. The father, an award-winning salesman, sized up the situation, put the turtle in a little box, and proceeded to share his faith with his son. He told of the joys of eternal life and the beauty of surrounding the heavenly throne in his most convincing sales manner. He also told about the marvelous wake that they would hold for the late departed turtle, and that the boy could invite his friends over for ice cream and cake.
During the talk the boy gradually brightened up. Seeing this, the father decided to close by inviting the boy out to bury the turtle. When they arrived outside and opened the box there was the turtle walking around as if nothing had happened.
With a cheery glow on his face, the boy looked up at his father and said, “Dad, let’s kill him!”
Tags: celebration, death, humor, resurrection, turtle
First Baptist Church of Manayunk in Philadelphia purchased an old abandoned house next to the church to expand its parking lot back in the late 1960s. For more years than anyone could remember, a bed of Daffodils (Easter Lillies) had bloomed to welcome each new Spring.
The construction company contracted to tear down the building and to pave the new lot did so in the Fall, so no thought was given to the old flower bed which was leveled off and covered over with eight inches of black asphalt or tarmac. A huge roller then came in and compacted the asphalt down to four inches of rock hard pavement. Everyone enjoyed the new parking lot and soon forgot about the old house and garden. That was, they forgot about it until Spring. The first thing noticed was that an area of asphalt was cracking upward and then just in time for Easter, those dormant, buried and forgotten daffodils burst forth, right up through the pavement to bloom and celebrate the Resurrection.
Nothing could hold those daffodils back, nothing could hold Jesus in the grave, and nothing will hinder the resurrection of the dead some day. I’m gonna stay ready.
Tags: daffodils, life, resurrection
The Department of Social Services in Greenville County, South Carolina, sent the following letter:
“Your food stamps will be stopped, effective immediately, because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances.”
Does this mean that the official South Carolina government officially endorses the possibility of life after death? I doubt it. It was likely a simple oversight. How could a person who is deceased possibly reapply when their circumstances change? Once a person has died, then comes the judgment. We get no second chances and there is no reincarnation.
The importance of that is so we will remember to make life count the first time around. Make your life count today.
Tags: death, mistakes, resurrection
A man went on vacation to the Holy Land with his wife and mother-in-law. Halfway through their trip, the mother-in-law died. So, the man went to an undertaker, who explained that they can ship the body home, but it’ll cost $5,000. Or they can bury her in the Holy Land for $150.
“We’ll ship her home,” said the son-in-law. “Are you sure?” asked the undertaker. “That’s an awfully big expense. And I can assure you we do a very nice burial here.”
“Look,” said the son-in-law, “two thousand years ago they buried a guy here, and three days later he rose from the dead. I just can’t take that chance.”
Tags: death, humor, resurrection
“You’re blocking the way, sir,” said the usher to a man sprawled in the aisle of a movie theater. “Please get up.”
The man didn’t move or reply. The usher called the manager over, who said, “I must ask you to move.”
Still the prone man didn’t reply. So the manager called the police. “Get up or I’ll have to take you in,” the officer said. “Where did you come from, anyway?”
The man finally stirred and said, “The balcony.”
Have you ever felt condemnation toward another who was down and out? How can we judge someone when we haven’t walked in their shoes or understood what they have gone through that brought them to that place? Let’s be a little more understanding. Our job is not to judge, but to assist others on their spiritual journey. How are you helping?
Tags: humor, judging, mercy, resurrection