Easter, Death and resurrection.

What do we think about at Easter time? Bunnies and Easter eggs? Let me tell you a story…….

Once upon a time, there was a green grub that slowly and steadily munched its way through all the leaves it could find. It got bigger and bigger and gradually felt lazier and   lazier. One day it felt like going to sleep but thought it had better try to keep eating just a little bit more. But it  couldn’t  make it. All it wanted to do was to crawl up into a dark corner where it could go to sleep.

So it made itself a cotton blanket that it wound round and round itself. It snuggled down into this and thought that this was the end of the world for it. It was so comfortable. It went sound asleep and didn’t know anything for  several weeks.

One day, the bundle that was the caterpillar started to wiggle. It had changed colour too. It kept giving heaves and jiggling until its blanket began to split. Then the rip got bigger and longer until a new creature could be seen inside. This one had long wrinkly wings that were all  squashed up inside the bundle.

Slowly the wings were stretched out and they began to gleam in the bright sun. The creature’s head came up and its eyes opened. It gave a little flutter  with its new wings, and then wiggled them some more. Soon it dried off and as it stretched itself on the  branch where it had been for so long, everyone could see a brand new butterfly. The old blanket was no more use and had  fallen onto the ground.

A  little  breeze  blew  softly, and  the  butterfly  teetered  on  the  edge  of  its branch and gave a few flaps with its wings. Then a stronger wind blew and it stretched its wings and flew off up into the sky, starting a whole new life. It  had clean forgotten its  old life as a caterpillar.

This is what Easter is all about. The Lord Jesus had been living on earth doing all sorts of good things for people. But there were some men who didn’t like Him…. they were jealous of Him.  One day some wicked men took Him and killed Him and He died. People thought they had got rid of Him. But He was just like the caterpillar that went to sleep in its blanket. After three days, He came back to life again, but this time He was different. His friends could still see Him and talk to Him, but He could vanish out of their sight, and suddenly appear at their elbow unexpectedly. One day, He went up into heaven while they were watching Him, and it was left to them to carry on His work on earth. They found that He was still with them, even though they couldn’t see Him. They could still talk to Him too…. we call that praying.

We can pray to Him today too, and He will help us to do His work. If He hadn’t come back different like the butterfly, He wouldn’t be able to be still with His people  today like He is.

                                                            xxx   XXX   xxx 

             YOU can make a Difference! 

“Daddy, Daddy”, cried the small boy running after his father. “Daddy, you’ll never guess what happened today!”

His father turned around , stopping in his strides. “No”, he said, “What happened to make you so excited?”

“Well Daddy”, the small boy said, “I went out to watch what the great teacher, Jesus, was doing. And you know what? He was making sick people better! They would come up to Him walking with their sticks, and He would touch them and they could run and jump! They didn’t need their sticks any more!”

“Are you sure?” his father asked.

“Yes Daddy. And you know what? There were an awful lot of people there. Crowds and crowds of them. But I crept up behind them all to get a closer look. I stayed watching until it was really late. Then I heard the Teacher say to His friends, ‘Let’s feed the people’. They said they didn’t have enough food to feed them all!”

“What happened then?” his father  said.

“Well, I got even closer and held out my lunch box, and said, ‘You can have this if you like’. And you know what happened? The Teacher took my box, and opened it and looked at the five buns and two fish in it. Then He shut  His eyes and prayed to God to say ‘thank-you’ for the food, and then He started to hand it out to His fiends. They took it round to all the people. The food just kept coming out of my box. It didn’t stop coming!”

The little boy’s father shook his head. He found this hard to believe. All he could think of to say was, “Are you sure?”

“Yes Daddy”, the little boy said impatiently, “I was there. I saw it happen.”

“What happened then?” his father asked.

“When everyone had got enough, the food stopped coming. There was no more left. So then the men walked around with baskets and picked up all the scraps and left-overs. They got twelve baskets altogether”.

“Wow!” was all Daddy could say. “What a difference you made by giving your lunch to share with everyone!”

This story happened in the Bible days. But it is still the same today. We mightn’t have much, but if we share what we do  have with other people, it makes such a difference to them and to us too! The Bible says it is better to give than to receive….whatever we give to God, He will  use it to make a difference to other people.

Share what you have with others, With friends and sisters and brothers,

Whether it’s much or whether it’s small Jesus will take it and use it all!

                                                        xxx   XXX   xxx

                                                        Two Great Escapes.

Jeremiah getting out of prison in Bible times……

Jeremiah  sunk into the slime. His heart dropped. How was he going to get out of this dungeon ? The people of Israel had turned away from God  and had followed  heathen idols.  They were very  wicked,  and God could stand it no longer. Jeremiah had gone to  the king and told him that punishment was coming.   The princes and leaders didn’t like this. They thought  if they got rid of  Jeremiah, that that would get rid of the punishment!

It was so smelly in this hole!  He looked around for somewhere to sit down where it wasn’t so wet. But there was nowhere. He looked up at the high walls. There was no way he could climb up there either! His heart sunk still further. He knew the princes meant him to die. He  was getting very tired.

But even though he was imprisoned, his heart was free! He was able to think of God and pray.  Suddenly he heard a noise up in the roof. Looking up, he saw a  chink of light. The hole got bigger and he saw a head poke through. He heard a voice, “Are you there, Jeremiah?”

It was Ebedmelech, the king’s black slave. He believed in God, and wanted to get  Jeremiah  out. He had asked the king if he could free him.

“Take thirty men”, the king said, “and get him out”.

“I’m sending down ropes with old rags and wood”,  he  whispered,  “ Put them under your arms, and we’ll pull you up”. Jeremiah quickly did this, and tugged on the ropes. They slowly tightened up. Jeremiah hoped they wouldn’t break. Soon he was able to breathe fresh air….what a relief!! He was pulled over the edge and tumbled on to the floor of the prison above.

At last he was out of the terrible dungeon, and could lie down somewhere dry!  He was sent to the court of the prison and stayed there until  the city of Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar. Then he was taken out of the prison and set free. God had specially  protected him  because he trusted in God.

Brother Yun getting out of prison now!  ……..

Brother Yun was a Chinese Christian  man who was imprisoned in China in 1997 for preaching the Gospel. His captors were determined to keep him there and broke both his legs so that he couldn’t escape. So he was locked in prison, under guard, and with two broken legs. It was totally impossible for him to get out!

He was very discouraged. Why had this  happened  when he was doing God’s work? He felt  like Jeremiah, and read in Jeremiah’s book, “Alas! I am  a man that the whole land strives with. I haven’t lent or borrowed, yet everyone  curses me!” He started to cry. This was just what he felt like! He carried on reading….”The Lord said, ‘Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose’ “. God was telling him to escape!

While he was reading, he had a vision of his wife sitting beside him. “Why don’t you open the door?” she asked, and then faded away. It seemed that God was telling him to escape. He called for the guard. “I need to go to the toilet”, he said. Because his legs were so sore,  the man next door  helped him to the toilet. “You must escape now!” the man whispered.  So Yun knew  for sure that God had told him in three ways it was time to leave…..through His Word, the vision of his wife, and now his friend.  When  God tells us to act, we must do it NOW!   So Brother Yun did. He shuffled through the door, and then towards the gate. At that very moment, another prisoner was coming in and the gate swung open. His guard was called to the phone at the same time. Brother Yun walked through. His legs were getting stronger. He found a broom and took it as he walked down the stairs towards the next gate. The  guard there took no  notice of Brother Yun. It was just as though he couldn’t see him!

Brother Yun continued down the next flight of stairs. No-one took any notice of him at all! He went to the next gate. It was wide open with no guards anywhere in sight! He dropped his broom and carried on to the main gate which was ajar with no-one to be seen. He was expecting to be shot at any moment, but nothing happened. Suddenly he was  out. He was free! No-one had ever escaped from that prison before! Truly this was a great escape!!!

God was looking after him, and this was a real miracle.

                                               Xxx   XXX   xxx

                                        Making the Right Choice.

The four  boys   looked around wide eyed. They had never seen anything like it in all their lives! It was all so different to what they had been used to. They were in a great high roofed room with pillars at the door ways. The floors were marble tiles, and  the walls looked as though they were covered with gold.  Although they were from high-born families in their  homeland of Israel, they weren’t used to such posh surroundings. The palaces  they had seen had all been stripped by  marauding  kings. They themselves had been  dragged from their beds in the night and roughly herded along with many others of their countrymen.  They had travelled many miles across dry wastelands and sandy deserts, walking most of  the way, and if they  were caught talking to each other, they would be jabbed by the  men who were in charge of them.

At last they arrived at a large city, in a strange land where they couldn’t understand a word that was being said.  The boys wondered  what was going to happen to them. But they made the choice of doing as they were told and making the best of things. After all, they still had God to help them. There was no-one else.

After a few weeks, they began to understand what people were saying around them. One day they were chosen along with other boys, to be trained to be “wise men” for the king’s court. This would be a three year course for them.  So  here they were, ready to start. Melzar, the man in  charge of them, soon found that these four boys stood out far ahead of all the others. They always did as they were told. They were cheerful and happy, and always polite.

But Daniel,  one of the boys,  wasn’t too happy when he found that the food they  were  being given had been offered to the king’s idols first. He began to feel very  uncomfortable. After all, he believed in the God of Heaven, and here he was eating  idol’s food!  The other three boys with him all felt the same.  It bothered Daniel  so much that he went to Melzar,  and asked if they could have plain bread and water instead of the rich pastries, fat meat and poultry, and wine to drink.

“I can’t do that”, Melzar said, “You’ll all get thin and miserable looking and won’t be able to do your work, then I’ll be the one to get into trouble!”

But Daniel insisted.  “Please just give us a trial for ten days, and if we look worse for it, then we’ll go back onto the king’s food  again”.

Melzar agreed reluctantly He liked these boys and hoped that they would do well. After a few days, they began to feel great. They could think more clearly and were wide awake first thing every morning. They never had a headache, and were always  top of their classes. By the end of ten days, they came before Melzar again,

and he  didn’t need to weigh them to see that they looked fitter and fatter than any of the  others in the class. They were allowed to stay on plain food for the rest of their  course.

Because of the choice they made, Daniel and his three friends proved that God would honour their decision to do what was right.

                                                Xxx   XXX   xxx

The Very First Christmas.

I was standing in the shadows of the stable when I heard some people coming in. Usually only one person came in and he would give us some hay, but this time there were three people….our master and a lady and another man.

“This will be fine”, I heard the man say to the master.

“Thank-you so much” the lady said, and she sounded very tired.

There was another donkey with them, so I moved over in my stall and let the stranger in beside me (I’m a donkey too, you see!). He gave a couple of snorts, and a big sigh and then lay down. I could see he was tired too. I waggled my big ears and listened to what the people were saying.

“I’m so glad to be here Joseph”, the lady said, “I think we are only just in time. I think our baby will come tonight”.

“Now, now Mary”, the man said, “Don‘t you worry about a thing. I’ll be able to look after you. Remember, this is God’s special Baby, and He will watch over us and keep us all safe”.

Well, I was tired too, so I lay down beside the visitor in my stall, and went to sleep too. I heard some noises in the night but took no notice, and then later on I sort of woke up and heard a baby crying. “That’s funny “ I thought, “There wasn’t any baby here last night!” But I was still tired so I shut my eyes again.

When I opened my eyes again, it was quite daylight, so I stood up and looked around. I looked around to see where the manger was with hay in for us to eat, but all I could see was a blanket and a bundle lying in it. The lady was lying there sound asleep, but the man was sitting up and looked as though he was praying.

Suddenly I saw something move up near the roof, and I could see our friend Mr. Mouse scuttling along the high shelf and then jump up on the rafters. I thought to myself that he would know what was going on, but so did I. I knew this was a special Baby that was born last night, and somehow I just knew that He had come to be born to do God’s work on earth. I just hoped that I could be part of this if there was something that I would be able to do.

Later on…..I WAS able to help in God’s work, because the Family had to move away and go down to Egypt and they needed another donkey to carry all the Baby’s gear and food for the journey, so I got to go after all. But that’s another story for another time!

                                                               Xxx   XXX   xxx