Tuesday, September 15, 1998
Tuesday, September 15, 1998
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me,
even though they die, will live." (John 11:25
NRSV)
There is a story of a missionary priest who told a remote village that he would baptize them and
that they would have to go to confession once a week and eat fish on Friday. There was a very
old man in the village. The priest baptized him and named him Anthony. Some time later, the
people of the village said Anthony was not going to confession. So the priest went to see him. It
was a Friday. When he found Anthony, he was cooking deer meat. The priest asked him why he
was eating deer meat, and Anthony told the priest that he was a very old man, and that he
had shot the deer with his bow and arrow. He told the priest that although he was very weak, he
drug the deer to the river. There, he baptized the deer. And named him Fish in the name of the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
A humorous story, but it takes more than a little bit of water and a new name to bring someone
into the Kingdom of God, doesn't it? It takes a savior who lives in our hearts moment by moment,
day by day.
Prayer: God of peace, may Jesus Christ live in my heart every moment of everyday, as I
work to live for you and your people. Amen.
Ronald Newhouse, Texas, USA