Imagine you're on a bus riding down from the top of the mountains out west on a very narrow barely-big-enough-for-your-vehicle winding road. You're in the back with all of your friends ... reading, laughing, making calls, texting, talking, having a great time.
Suddenly you see - from seemingly out of nowhere - a small boy start to dart across the road, directly in the path of the bus.
The bus driver has three choices. He can veer to the right, careening into the side of the mountain, killing you and all of your fellow passengers, but saving the life of the child. Or he can swerve sharply to the left and plunge off the edge of the road, bringing instant death for everyone on the bus but again, saving the boy. Or he can do the unthinkable and run the child down, but save the life of everyone on the bus.
As the bus driver slams on the brakes, you can feel the small body crumpled by the weight of the massive bus. As the dust clears and the smell of scorched rubber fills the air, the bus driver sits in tears. You approach him and try to offer some small comfort. "Don't cry," you say. "You're a hero. I have a wife and two kids. We all have families. You've saved us all!"
The bus driver turns to you and whispers, "You don't understand. That boy was my son."
God is the bus driver. And that's the choice He made. The one we commemorate this day, Good Friday.
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There was a small girl whose father was a pastor.
One day, after one of her daddy's sermons, the little girl asked him, "Daddy, can a person go their whole life without sinning?"
"No, honey," the father replied, "I'm sorry, but that's just not possible. Jesus was the only one who could."
"What about a year, Daddy?" the little girl continued. "Can a person go a whole year without sinning?"
"No, I don't think that's possible, either," Daddy said.
"What about a day, Daddy? Can a person go a day without sinning? Maybe just once?"
"Unless they're in the hospital and very, very sick and not even awake, I don't think that's possible, either, honey."
"What about one moment, Daddy? Can a person go one moment without sinning?"
"Yes, dear, I think that is possible."
"Then, Daddy, I want to live my life moment by moment."
[Author Unknown, selected from Daily Food for Thought.org with edits by Mark Raymond]
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But Sunday's coming. (See below)
I'll see you on Monday.
Mark
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WEB SITE of the WEEK: My wife bought pistachios last week as a snack for me at my fantasy baseball drafts. Since I was using my laptop this year, I couldn't really enjoy them because I didn't want to get "shell dust" all over the computer ... so I took them back to the store for a less messy snack. When I did, the clerk at customer service informed me it was a good thing because those pistachios had been recalled. Find out what other foodstuffs might be on a recall list at the Department of Health and Human Services website at http://www.hhs.gov/. And, of course, there's lots of other good stuff there, too.
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Mark's Musings is sent using Ezine Director and I pay extra to make sure those folks are certified by Habeas to be a safe sender of e-mail. That means you can trust what I send. And I promise never to send spam or give your address to anyone who will. Subscribe, view past issues in my Archives, and otherwise click your day away at my web site. (There are years of archival jokes and links, for instance, and at least three years of "Web Sites of the Week" to browse.) To contact me and sooner or later get a reply, click here. Make sure you go to a good church this Sunday. Garrison Keillor once said that without faith, life is just one long committee meeting. I couldn't agree more. You can forward or reprint "Mark's Musings" freely but please keep the credits attached. The credits go with the post like music goes with a good movie. They both enhance each other. Original material and musings © 2009 by Mark Raymond. I update this blog with a copy of this post daily and occasionally with "bonus material" whenever the mood or muse strikes. Look for the label that says "bonus" and you can bring it all up with one click. My personal mission statement remains John 3:30.
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WORDS for YOUR WEEKEND: "Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there." (Clarence W. Hall)
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