Today, I want to share one of my favorite stories from Paul Harvey.



Jesus and the Bird Cage
Paul Harvey
Boston preacher Dr. S.D. Gordon, placed a beat up, bent, rusted old bird cage beside his pulpit when he told this story.

An unkempt, unwashed, little lad about 10 years old was coming up the alley swinging this old caved in bird cage with several tiny birds shivering on the floor of it.

The compassionate Dr. Gordon asked the boy where he got the birds.

He said he trapped them.

Dr. Gordon asked what he was going to do with them.

The boy said he was going to play with them and have fun with them.

The preacher said, “Sooner or later you’ll get tired of them. Then what are you going to do with them?”

The lad said, “I have some cats at home. They like birds. I’ll feed them to my cats.”

Dr. Gordon said, “Son, how much do you want for the birds?”

The boy, surprised, hesitated and said, “Mister, you don’t want these birds. There just plain old field birds. They can’t even sing. They’re ugly.”

The preacher said, “Just tell me. How much do you want?”

The grubby little lad thought about it. He squinted up one eye. He calculated and hesitated and said, “Two dollars?”

To his surprise Dr. Gordon reached into his pocket and handed the boy two, one dollar bills.

The preacher took the cage.

The boy, in a wink, hurried up the alley.

In a sheltered crevice between buildings, Dr. Gordon opened the door of the cage and tapping on the rusty exterior he encouraged the little birds, one at a time, to find their way out through the narrow door and fly away.

Thus having accounted for the empty cage beside his pulpit, the preacher went on to tell what seemed, at first, like a separate story.

About how once upon a time, Jesus and the Devil had engaged in a negotiation.

Satan had boasted how he’d baited a trap in Eden’s garden and caught himself a world full of people.

“What are you going to do with all those people in your cage” Jesus wanted to know.

The Devil said, “I’m going to play with em’, tease em’. Make them marry and divorce and fight and kill one another. I’m going to teach them to throw bombs on one another. I’m going to have fun with them!”

Jesus said, “You can’t have fun with them forever. When you get tired of playing, what are you going to do with them?”

Satan said, “...They’re no good anyway! ...Kill them!”

Jesus said, “How much do you want for them?”

Satan said, “You can’t be serious! If I sell them to you, they’ll just spit on you. They’ll hate you. They’ll hit you and beat you. They’ll hammer nails into you! They’re no good.”

Jesus said, “How much?”

Satan said, “All of your tears and all of your blood. That’s the price.”

Jesus took the cage, and paid the price, and opened the door.

Happy Easter, from my heart...to yours. May your day be blessed and your heart be happy!

Fix, it mama!

How many times has a child asked you this? They bring broken things to us, not doubting that we will be able to put them back together. They don't know how it will be done, and they don't try to figure it out. They just bring them to someone that they have faith in...someone who will make it all better.

When a child brings something broken to you, what's the first thing that has to happen before you can fix it? They have to LET IT GO. They have to place it into your hands so you can do what needs to be done. If they are still holding onto it, you can't take control.

I'm afraid I'm like a child so many times, bringing things to God. I ask Him to "fix it", but I'm unwilling to let go. I bring my worries, my hopes, my fears to Him in prayer and ask for solutions, but I'm still holding onto the problems in my mind....still trying to figure out how to fix it myself. I realize this is something I need to work on. I don't have the answers. I don't have the ability. I can't "fix" everything. But I do know Someone who can. I may not know how He will do it, and I don't need to try to figure it out. Faith is enough.

My Sunday School teacher once said that he thinks of us as carrying our burdens and problems in "spiritual backpacks". They burden us and slow us down. They make the road harder to travel. They keep us from enjoying the journey. He said we bring these backpacks of burdens to Jesus and lay them at his feet in prayer. However, oftentimes, when we rise from our knees to go about our day, instead of leaving the burdens at the feet of Jesus, we pick them back up, put them back on her backs, and carry them around some more. If I truly have faith that Jesus is going to answer my prayer, I need to leave the burdens out of the backpack. I need to LET IT GO. Because Jesus is more than able. He is more than enough.

Just some thoughts from my heart...to yours. May your day be blessed and your heart be happy.

The Sun is Always Shining...

I work from home as a transcriptionist. I also homeschool my kids. I'm busy, but blessed!! I have a room in my house that we were blessed to add on as my "office". It has a lot of windows - which I love. My desk is underneath this little octagonal window where I can look out at the trees, sky, clouds, and birds while I work.

In southern Virginia, we have A LOT of cloudy days. I'm not really sure how Seattle gets more rain than we do sometimes. With that being said, it seems almost every day when I am working in the evenings, after school is done, that the sun will shine right into my eyes as it passes over this little window. I like to call it "baking at 350 degrees". It is not easy to find window coverings for these strange little windows, and so I sat. And baked. And fumed a little from time to time. I would tape up paper over it, hang fabric on a coat hanger and a thumbtack, many things. Finally, my husband cut a piece of cardboard to size that I could place into the window and solved my dilemma. I love that man. But what really struck me as odd, would be that we would have an almost totally cloudy day...gloomy...maybe even rainy. But in the evening when I was sitting there working, the sun would peek out from behind the clouds just for a while, just long enough to shine in my eyes while I was trying to type.

I got to thinking about this one day. I decided I wanted to take these little bursts of sun as God "waving" at me from heaven...letting me know that even though the clouds may be out right now, that gloomy days may be part of life, the sun is always shining, whether we can see it or not. Kind of like the way the "SON" is always shining in our lives, even on gloomy days when we can't see Him working.

So now, on those cloudy days when I'm working away, and the sun begins to shine right into my eyes to get my attention, I just think, "Hello, God. Thanks for letting me know you're still there."

Just some thoughts from my heart...to yours. May your day be blessed and your heart be happy!

Am I a Jesus fan?

We all know that one sports fanatic...um, I mean...fan. The diehard fan who cheers louder, dresses more brightly in the stands. You know, the one who sticks by his or her team no matter what, win or lose. Even when times are tough. You know to not say anything bad about their team, or you're in for a fight. Why? Because they truly, passionately LOVE their team.

That got me to thinking about sports fans. Some aren't diehard at all. They are more bandwagon fans. The ones who jump on board when it's smooth sailing and rainbows, but stop cheering when times get hard. They're not cheering because they love their team...they're just cheering because they love winning.

And then there's the 'fake fan' who wants to wear the t-shirts and hats, call themselves a fan, but they don't watch the games. They don't know the stats. They aren't really a fan at all, they just want to be included in the fun.

Hmmm. I wonder. Do we know any Jesus fans? Do we know the 'fake fans' who wear the crosses and call themselves Christians, but don't pray, go to church, read their Bibles? How about bandwagon Christians? Everything is fine until life gets hard...then they want to blame God and cry out against Him.

Then there's true Jesus fans. Paul and Silas in the Bible were true Jesus fans. They were thrown into prison for doing absolutely nothing wrong, and what did they do? They sang hymns and praises!!! THAT'S the kind of Jesus fan I want to be. The one who cheers louder, shines more brightly. The one who praises Him not for what He can give, but for who He is....

Just some thoughts from my heart...to yours. May your day be blessed and your heart be happy!