The Bird Cage
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 bird cage, 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-they ain't even
pretty!"
"How much?"
The boy seized 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 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
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 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.
He picked up the cage....He opened the door.
Author unknown. If anyone has a proprietary interest in this story please authenticate and I will be happy to credit, or remove, as the circumstances dictate.
Thanks to Tidbits DAILY Devotional tidbits-request@mlists.net