Sunday, November 1, 2015

Jesus is...

November 1, 2015

"Halloween has been pretty quiet around here since our boys grew up." Linda and I were talking as we waited for our grandkids to show up after their evening trick or treating. Living as we do on the edge of the village, the goblins are pretty scarce around here. We used to live right in the center of town where on this night every fall we dished out candy to between two and three hundred kids. After the little kids made their rounds, the teenagers would begin to prowl the streets in the shadows just beyond the streetlights. Back then, Halloween was typically consummated with streamers of toilet paper hanging from the power lines, pumpkins smashed in the street, tires burning in the main intersection just down the road from our house, among other shenanigans. We always made sure all our eggs were accounted for before we let our boys out of the house, but we did notice after they graduated and moved on to college that Halloweens seemed to settle down into a rather sedate and even dull routine. I wonder why.

This morning as we drove into the church parking lot we were greeted with the fruit of some unknown Halloween pranksters who had a little fun at our expense. I can't remember the original message from which certain letters were pilfered, but I don't think anyone will forget our church sign boldly proclaiming, "Jesus is Anal!" Ha! I have to admit, we have some pretty clever pranksters out there, to whom we must give due recognition. Maybe God is tweaking my nose just a bit for my post of a couple days ago concerning a sister church's sign. Or maybe it's someone from that church...

Never one to miss a good opportunity, Pastor Joe called our attention to this message that greeted our people, reminding us that Jesus truly is anal about certain things, such as our salvation. He is not casual about our salvation, going even to the cross for us. As he spoke, I couldn't help but think of Genesis 50:20. "You meant this for evil, but God intended it for good." So said Joseph to the brothers who sold him into slavery in Egypt, after he had risen to power, rescuing the nation and his own household from famine. God has a way of turning things around when we least expect it, and this morning a Halloween prank was redeemed and turned into a Gospel message. How good is that?

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