God's Grace
There once was a man named George
Thomas, pastor in
a small New England town. One Easter
Sunday morning he came to the Church carrying a rusty, bent, old bird
cage, and set it by the pulpit. 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 do you have there, son?"
Just some old
birds," came the reply. "What are you going to do with them?" I asked.
"Take 'em home and have fun with 'em," he answered.
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," said the
little boy. "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'rejust plain old field birds. They don't sing. They ain't even pretty!"
"How much?" the pastor asked again.
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 bird cage 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 a world full of people downthere. 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.
Satan replied, "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.
I'm gonna teach them how to invent guns and bombs and
kill each other. I'm really gonna have fun:"
"And what will you do when you are done with them?"Jesus asked.
"Oh, I'll kill 'em," Satan glared proudly.
"How much do you want for them?"Jesus asked.
"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 youand kill you. You don't want those people!!"
"How much? He asked again.
Satan looked at Jesus and sneered, "All your blood, tears and your life.
Jesus said, "DONE!" Then He
paid the price.
The pastor picked up the cage and walked from the pulpit.