It’s Holy Week! A time of reflection and remembering what our Savior went through and endured to gain our salvation. Humanity wasn’t able to reach God’s standard of righteousness because of our sinful nature, but God found a way for us. The Lord Jesus was that sacrifice that mankind needed because He was Holy and without blemish and because He was perfect, His sacrifice was acceptable to God and in His perfect love for us, Jesus willingly died so that we might be saved!

Here’s a story worth repeating . . .

There once was a man named George Thomas, 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. 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 do you have there, son?”

“Just some old birds,” came the reply.

“What are you going to 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. 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 bird cage 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 a world full of people down there. Set me a trap, used bait I knew they could not 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 are 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 these 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 blood, tears and your life!”

Jesus said, “DONE!” Then he paid the price.

The pastor picked up the cage and walked away from the pulpit.

Here’s something else interesting for your consideration this week . . .

Nestled deep in the Rocky Mountains of North America stands a rugged peak. For nine months each year it lies robed in snow, indistinguishable from a dozen others surrounding it.

But as summer arrives and the air warms, the mountain slowly sheds its blanket of white, revealing a massive emblem. High above the neighboring valleys, an 1,100-foot vertical gouge bisects a 400-foot horizontal groove, forming an almost perfect image of the cross of Christ. This sight is so impressive that famous American artist Thomas Moran visited the mountain to paint it in 1875. The peak is aptly named “The Mountain of the Holy Cross.”

In winter, only an expert could single out this particular peak from those around it. But in summer, any child could look at these mountains and easily choose “the one with the cross on it.” The only real difference in this mountain and all the others is the enormous image etched into its face.

We spend much of our lives creating a thick layer of “achievements.” We climb the career ladder, push our kids to excel, move to a better neighborhood and pursue another degree, all in the hope that we will somehow become more popular, wealthy, powerful or influential.

Like a thick blanket of snow our conquests and achievements cover us, deposited one tiny flake at a time until we are totally obscured. For many of us, self-esteem and self-worth come from what we have accomplished or how much we can buy or who we know.

Yet one day we will awaken to a new reality, an endless day in which all our values will be turned upside down. All that we have done, said, created, bought and built will be brushed away, melted like snow under the gaze of our eternal Father. Deep within each one of us he will seek the one thing, the only thing he truly cares about: the imprint of the cross, the mark of his Son.

Nothing else matters to Him. And on that day, nothing else will matter to you. Do you possess the one thing that really matters?