One year ago yesterday I sat down for my bowl of cereal and cup of coffee like I usually do. I picked up my spoon and scooped up a heaping pile of Honey Bunches of Oats and delivered it to my mouth. As I was chewing there was a vaguely familiar taste, yet it was out of place. It didn't taste bad, just wrong. It was no ordinary day. It was April Fool's Day. I had been pranked by my nine year old son. He laughed. I was mad. Mad because so much expensive creamer had been wasted on a silly prank. I reluctantly finished my bowl of cereal while I cooled off.
I used to be more of a prankster when I was in college. There was the time when we stuck a 4 foot icicle in someone's bed. We bricked up the outside of someone's college dorm room door. The best was when I pranked the prankers. Four young ladies set out late one night to paint their initials on the paw prints from our school's tiger mascot that were painted on a cement wall. I was on security and saw the whole thing. I got the paw print blue paint and painted over their initials. I got the president's letterhead and delivered a letter from the president of the college to each of the four young ladies to go see him in his office. To this day I get all giddy inside just thinking about it.
Somewhere along the way I stopped enjoying pranks. Don't get me wrong, I love to joke around. Some pranks just go too far and people end up getting mad or hurt. Some of those pranks we pulled in college were not safe and someone could have been seriously injured or worse. But we didn't think about that. We were just having fun and enjoying the full college experience. There is more to life than just having fun and enjoying it.
Eternal life is infinitely more important than anything else in this entire world. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 1:18 that:
...the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
There is nothing more polarizing than the gospel. It's foolishness to the world that God would spare His only son to die for other people who were His enemies. Who does that? It doesn't make sense. It's counterintuitive. Almighty God does that and that's what He chose to do in order to turn His enemies into family. All anyone has to do is believe it and receive it.
It is interesting that April Fool's Day falls just before Good Friday and Easter this year. Talk often with your kids about the gospel. How did it change their life? How is it still changing their life? Jesus' work on the cross isn't just fire insurance. It's also abundant life that starts now and lasts forever!
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