If His Eye is on the Sparrow, ...

As Christians, there is no more important time of the year than the Easter season. Easter validates all that we believe. Our faith is made real and credible through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The love and hope we’ve come to expect through our faith was freely given on Good Friday and made everlasting on Easter Sunday. It is only through understanding and accepting that His suffering, death and resurrection was a personal sacrifice for us,.. each of us, that we can truly find ourselves and evolve as Christians, true believers and followers of Christ.

I was told of a minister that was walking down a street in a rather large city. He came across a young boy carrying a bird cage. In the cage the boy had 5 or 6 birds.

The minister stopped the boy and asked about the birds. He asked where the young boy had found the birds. The boy answered, "I set a trap and I captured them." "What do you plan to do with the birds now?" The minister asked.  "I’m going to play with them, make ‘em do tricks." the boy replied.

The minister smiled and asked, "What will you do after you’ve finished playing with them?" "Well I don’t know," shrugged the boy, "I guess if I get bored with ‘em I’ll just kill ‘em and throw them out in the field."

The minister was noticeably upset and asked how much the boy wanted for the birds. The boy looked up and said, "You don’t want these birds mister, why they're just dirty old sparrows, you can find them anywhere. All they are is dirty old messy birds."

The minister asked again, "How much do you want for the birds?" The boy smirked and said, "I warned you, these aren’t like good house birds, they won’t even pay attention to you, but you can buy ‘em if you want ‘em that bad."

The minister paid the young boy and walked away thinking. He was thinking of a time long ago. A time when Jesus may have confronted the devil and asked the devil what he was doing. The devil looked up and smiled, "Shh... I’ve set a trap for some people down there." "What do you plan to do when you catch them?" The Lord asked. The devil sneered, "Well, I guess I’ll play with them, tempt them, make them do things-- things they say they don’t want to do." "What will you do with them after you’ve finished with them?" the Lord asked. "Well I don’t know, I haven’t thought that far ahead. I guess if I get bored with them, I won’t need them anymore. I guess I’ll just watch them die."

Jesus asked, "How much do you want for them?" The devil laughed, "You don’t want these people, they're no good, they don't care about you. They won’t do what you want, they’ll just laugh at you. They’ll tell you what you want to hear and then go on doing whatever they want to do. They’re just dirty old messy people."

Jesus asked again, "How much do you want for these people?" The devil thought for a minute and said, "I’ll tell You what I want,... I want all Your blood, Your sweat and Your tears."

With that, our Lord agreed to pay the price and stretched out both his arms and died.

Do you believe,.. I mean really believe, that He died and was resurrected for you? If you do, then I know you will have a Happy and Blessed Easter. If you don’t, then beware the traps, ......"Hey, Would you like some candy little girl???"

Respectfully in Christ,

Mark Price