Someone's Gotta Play the Bad Guy
My Daddy, the Tempter. I squirmed down in my seat on the slippery wooden pew and tried not to look at my own father tempting the Lord in front of the whole church! Now, squirreling down on those pews was not easy to do with the bare skin exposed on the back of my legs! At least not quietly. Anyway...
My father had a deep, rich baritone voice, and apparently the devil does too, because year after year he was given the part of Satan tempting Jesus in the wilderness. "If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. Com-mand that. these. stones. be. made. bread!"
Then our lead tenor, Maurice Macy, would answer him with the sweet voice of Jesus. "Man shall not live by bread alone. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
Fast forward about 40 years and I am seeing my firstborn son hanging on a cross in front of the whole church. You guessed it, he's not playing Jesus.
My family members have often played the part of every type of vile character imaginable. I had begun to be resigned to the type-casting until the message hit this mama's heart full force at the end of last years' program.
There was my son on the big screen, in front of everyone, walking with Jesus into paradise. He and Jesus turned around to face us and waved their arms to invite us all to join them.
Bad guys can change. My family can be redeemed. God's grace is enough. You can bet I'm running to join them!
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My father had a deep, rich baritone voice, and apparently the devil does too, because year after year he was given the part of Satan tempting Jesus in the wilderness. "If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. Com-mand that. these. stones. be. made. bread!"
Then our lead tenor, Maurice Macy, would answer him with the sweet voice of Jesus. "Man shall not live by bread alone. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
Fast forward about 40 years and I am seeing my firstborn son hanging on a cross in front of the whole church. You guessed it, he's not playing Jesus.
My family members have often played the part of every type of vile character imaginable. I had begun to be resigned to the type-casting until the message hit this mama's heart full force at the end of last years' program.
There was my son on the big screen, in front of everyone, walking with Jesus into paradise. He and Jesus turned around to face us and waved their arms to invite us all to join them.
Bad guys can change. My family can be redeemed. God's grace is enough. You can bet I'm running to join them!
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