The Empty Bird Cage

F

forgiven61

The Empty 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," he answered.
"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," said the little boy.
"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 and they
ain't even pretty!"

"How much?" the pastor asked again.

The boy sized 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 birdcage 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.

Satan replied, "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 drink and smoke and curse. I'm gonna teach them
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," Satan glared proudly.

"How much do you want for them?" Jesus asked.

Oh, you don't want those people. They ain't no good.
Why, you'll 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?" He asked again.

Satan looked at Jesus and sneered,
"All your tears, and all your blood."

Jesus said, "DONE!" Then He paid the price.

The pastor picked up the cage, he opened the door,
and he walked from the pulpit.

Isn't it funny how simple it is for people to trash
God and then wonder why the world's going to hell.
Isn't it funny how we believe what the newspapers say,
but question what the Bible says. Isn't it funny how
everyone wants to go to heaven provided they do not
have to believe, think, say, or do anything the Bible
says. Isn't it funny how someone can say, "I believe
in God", but still follow Satan who, by the way, also
'believes' in God? Isn't it funny how you can send a
thousand jokes through e-mail and they spread like
wildfire, but when you start sending messages
regarding the Lord and people think twice about
sharing.

Isn't it funny how the lewd, crude, and vulgar pass
freely through cyberspace, but the public discussion
of Jesus is suppressed in the school and workplace?

Isn't it funny how when you go to forward this message,
you will not send it to many on your address list because you're
not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for
sending it to them.

Isn't it funny how I can be more worried about what other people
think of me than what God thinks of me.
 
Hmm thought provoking post

I know of some people who would pay for the guns and then start using them to shoot their enemies...but they wouldn't think of giving up their $1000 Or whatever it costs to buy a gun to buy Bibles, food, and clothing to give to their enemies who might just be fighting them because they have none.
 
In Hong Kong, many people keep pet birds because, well there are hardly any trees in the city.

They even take them out for walks in their cages. They are companions.

In New England I guess some people have less respect for birds, since they see them everywhere and think they are a dime a dozen. I don't know.

God cares for the sparrows. If one falls to the ground, He knows it.
 
mm I don't really do the shaming posts some people like to do on emails or FB.
You know, send this to twenty people and back to me if you like Jesus..if you don't, you just don't care sort of thing.

The holy spirit does the convicting, not us.
 
My grammar can be very poor at times.
But I hope people do understand what I post.

It does come from me though, I don't usually copy from someone else unless I am quoting scripture.

Anyway. I was thinking of the field birds. In NZ, we have a lot of forest birds and many flightless birds. Because predators like rats and stoats and dogs did not reach our shores until humans bought them, flightless birds flourished in our forests.

Our native and much loved kiwi bird, cannot even fly (or see very well) and they used to be perfectly hidden from predators like hawks and eagles because they lived in the forest and were brown and not easily seen on the forest floor. But I just recently learned that dogs can easily sniff them out, as they are quite smelly, and dogs have killed a LOT of kiwi

So some scientists come up with the idea to give kiwis some deodorant or to spray areas to disguise their scent so dogs won't track them down and kill them.
 
well, I think it could work they've been trialling.
Also...dog owners are invited to put their dogs through kiwi aversion training so that they don't hunt down and kill them. I don't know how they police it though.

Othewise...sigh.. maybe you'll just have to shoot all the dogs. Everything gets solved with a bullet to the brain.
 
I've been looking into adopting kiwi.
They are really endangered and could become extinct in our lifetimes.
Most are bred in captivity to be released in the wild, which has to be predator-free.

It made me think...I myself was bred in captivity....in suburbia. If you released me into the wild, I probably wouldn't stand a chance! In any case I'd want to go back home which is not the wilderness anymore.....

(I have actually had my wilderness experience thank you..not going back there again).
 
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