There once was a man named George Thomas, a pastor in a small
New England town. One Easter Sunday morning he came to the
Church carrying a rusty, bent, old birdcage, and set it by the pulpit.
Several eyebrows were raised and, as if in response, Pastor Thomas
began to speak. "I was walking through town yesterday when I saw
a young boy coming toward me,swinging this bird cage. On the
bottom of the cage were three little wild birds, shivering with cold
and fright. I stopped the lad and asked,"What you got there son?"
"Just some old birds," came the reply."What are you gonna do with
them?" I asked. "Take 'em home and have fun with 'em. I'm gonna
tease 'em and pull out their feathers to make 'em fight. I'm gonna
have a real good time." "But you'll get tired of those birds sooner or
later. What will you do then?" "Oh, I got some cats. They like birds.
I'll take 'em to them." The pastor was silent for a moment. "How
much do you want for those birds, son?" "Huh??!!! Why, you
don't want them birds, mister. They're just plain old field birds.
They don't sing and they ain't even pretty!" "How much?" The boy
sized up the pastor as if he were crazy and said, $10?" The pastor
reached in his pocket and took out a ten dollar bill. He placed it in
the boy's hand. In a flash, the boy was gone. The pastor picked up
the cage and gently carried it to the end of the alley where there
was a tree and a grassy spot. Setting the cage down, he opened the
door,and by softly tapping the bars persuaded the birds out, setting
them free. Well, that explained the empty birdcage on the pulpit, and
then the pastor began to tell this story.

One day Satan and Jesus were having a conversation. Satan had just
come from the Garden of Eden, and he was gloating and boasting.
"Yes, sir, I just caught the world full of people down there. Set me a
trap used bait I knew they couldn't resist. Got 'em all!" "What are you
going to do with them?" Jesus asked. "Oh, I'm gonna have fun! I'm
gonna teach them how to marry and divorce each other. How to hate
and abuse each other. How to drink and smoke and curse. How to
invent guns and bombs and kill each other. I'm really gonna have fun!"
"And what will you do when you get done with them?" Jesus asked.
"Oh, I'll kill 'em." "How much do you want for them?" "Oh, you don't
want those people. They ain't no good. Why, you'll take them and they'll

just hate you. They'll spit on you, curse you and kill you!! You don't
want those people!!" "How much?" Satan looked at Jesus and sneered,
"All your tears, and all your blood." Jesus paid the price.

The pastor picked up the cage, he opened the door, and he walked
from the pulpit. Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and
then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe
what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny
how everyone wants to go to heaven provided they do not have to
believe, think, say, or do anything the Bible says. Or is it scary?
Funny how someone can say "I believe in God" but still follow Satan
(who, by the way, also "believes" in God). Funny how you can send
a thousand jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but
when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think
twice about sharing. Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene
pass freely through cyberspace, but the public discussion of Jesus
is suppressed in the school and workplace. FUNNY, ISN'T IT?
Funny how someone can be so fired up for Christ on Sunday, but
be an invisible Christian the rest of the week. Are you laughing?
Funny how when you go to forward this message, you will not
send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what
they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it to them.
Funny how I can be more worried about what other people think
of me than what God thinks of me. Let's continue praying for one
another.

A friend of mine was driving through an intersection one
day and his little four-year-old son was in the car with him. The
car door flew open, and the little boy rolled out of the vehicle
right into the middle of traffic coming from four ways.
The last thing my friend saw was a set of car wheels just about on
top of his son--moving at a very fast rate of speed. All he knew to
do was cry, "JESUS!" As soon as he could bring his car to a halt,
he jumped out ran to his son, who was perfectly all right. But the
man driving the car that had almost hit the child was absolutely
hysterical. My friend went over to him and started trying to comfort
him... "Man, don't be upset!" he said. "My son is all right, he's okay.
Don't be concerned about it. Just thank God you were able to stop!"
"You don't understand!" the man responded. "I never touched my
brakes!"

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