The operators of a rope tow
in a popular ski area were
having trouble with non-ticket
purchasers sneaking onto
the ski lift.
Finally, one of the operators
stayed at his post operating
the tow, while the other, wearing
purchasers sneaking onto
the ski lift.
Finally, one of the operators
stayed at his post operating
the tow, while the other, wearing
a discarded pair of skis, elbowed
his way to the head of the line.
The tow operator promptly called
him back, "Hey, where's your lift ticket?"
his way to the head of the line.
The tow operator promptly called
him back, "Hey, where's your lift ticket?"
"I don't need a ticket to ride
this tow." At this, the tow
operator produced an ax and,
with two blows, deftly chopped
off the fronts of his partner's skis,
just ahead of his toes.
With the crowd of skiers staring
in amazement, the operator lowered
his ax and turned to the crowd,
with two blows, deftly chopped
off the fronts of his partner's skis,
just ahead of his toes.
With the crowd of skiers staring
in amazement, the operator lowered
his ax and turned to the crowd,
"Anyone else out there who doesn't
have a lift ticket?"
have a lift ticket?"
CUBE FARM: An office filled with cubicles.
ReplyDeletePRAIRIE DOGGING: When someone yells or drops something loudly in a
cube farm, and people's heads pop up over the walls to see what's
going on.
OHNOSECOND: That miniscule fraction of time in which you realize that
you've just made a BIG mistake.
A UNC student was weed-eating her yard and
ReplyDeleteaccidentally cut off the tail of her cat
which was hiding in the grass.
She rushed her cat, along with the tail over
to WALMART!
Why WALMART???
HELLOOOOOOOOO!
WALMART is the largest retailer in the world!!!
"I can't believe how many children there are here," I leaned and whispered to my husband. We were visitors at a church whose smallest members were helping with the service that morning. A young girl, no more than 8, stood at the front of the altar beside the minister. As she began to speak, her voice echoed the eagerness that her countenance gave away. "Join me in saying the Apostles' Creed," she said with a tone that caused me to read the words differently:
ReplyDeleteI believe God made the world, the sky, the stars, the animals, and all the people in the world. I believe that God's Son, Jesus, came into the world from heaven. That's what we remember on Christmas.
Thus began the Apostles' Creed reworded for children, and in these almost familiar lines were the tenants of the Christian faith, the reminder of all we remember on Christmas and Easter. The little girl's voice rose above the sounds of a congregation speaking in unison. She was clearly excited
by the assignment she had been given. She seemed equally excited by the words of the Creed, the statements of belief shared with the very adults she was leading. It was a creed led in such a way as to remind everyone present that the call of Christ is one a child can answer. The substance to our hope is a simple, though profound, reality. What we remember at Christmas in song and lights touches every day with weight and vigor.
The word creed comes from the Latin word credo, meaning "I believe." When asked by Jesus, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter's response was his creed: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:15-16). The earliest creeds were used as baptismal vows, affirmations of belief in God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. For persons standing on the precipice of faith, the creed was the statement with which they prepared themselves to jump, and in so doing, found they had been given something on which to stand. As Martin
Luther noted of the Apostles' Creed, the most common of ancient confessions, "Christian truth could not possibly be put into a shorter and clearer statement."
In dire contrast to the ancient attempt to develop concise affirmations of Christian belief is the call among us for a simplified Christianity that lessens the significance of Jesus’s birth, life, and death, while focusing more on the responsibility his life imparts. Whether or not he was really born or buried, whether he was fully human and fully divine is thought nonessential; the call to love, the obligation to respond, the need to build relationships, is considered more important. The creeds say so much more than this. Christmas and Easter say so much more than goodwill and forgiveness.
In the letter to the Hebrews, the affirmation is given that faith gives substance to our hopes and makes certain the realities we do not see. Those who first said "credo" did so with the assurance that their lives were
dramatically about to change. They were saying in these vows that their beliefs were worth the chance of persecution, suffering, and even death. In their confession of faith was the conviction that what is true is of greater substance than fear or self. They went to their baptisms knowing that the birth, life, and death of Christ was the hope on which they must live and die and believe.
The lines of the Apostles' Creed, the mere Christianity that men, women, and children continue to stand on, repeat this stirring hope and sounding joy:
I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell, and on the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and now sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
This is no mere Christianity. This
is the story we welcome into a manger and receive from the tomb. This is what we remember on Christmas.
Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Then Jesus said, "Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. - Mat 11:28
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