Short Stories

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News Flash…national alert…major headlines, across the airwaves, everywhere; the word is being spread. Neighbor telling neighbor, cell phone usage at an all time high, and the word is getting around. A guy from Texas has finally done it! Rich has stumbled across something we have all been looking for. Some of you know you have been looking; others have looked with a passing glance. Some have spent hundreds of dollars, maybe thousands in the search. Heck, in today’s economy it is not unreasonable that someone may have spent a million dollars or more to find it.

It is said that at first he wasn’t too keen on sharing what he found but he has recently changed his mind. The reason he gives for changing his mind is that he has decided he doesn’t want to live forever by himself. He determined that what he found was so good, so precious, so sought after that several things might happen. He may enjoy and reap the benefit of what he has for a very long time but if he doesn’t share it he may be alone and lonely later on. Or he may discover that somebody else will find out what he has and want is so badly that they intend to harm him in order to get it.

In any event he has disclosed today that he has discovered what Marco Polo could not. He discovered the Fountain of Youth. Now I assure you, this report has been verified and validated by other credible sources so that you will not be skeptical. As you have already heard, the word is spreading across the globe. Something this good can not be left unchecked and by the looks of it all the reliable media sources have concurred that this is the real thing. Doctors are coming in and confirming the lab reports, government agencies have gone into special sessions to overhaul their government programs.

News Flash… The World Bank just approved a 1000 year loan to a recently elected democracy in the Middle East.

Folks, I hope you realize what this discovery has done to the world. It has changed us forever.

Lucky for us Rich has decided to grant me an interview so I can share with all of you right now how we can get the Fountain of Youth. As Rich tells it, his life used to be not so good. He has done pretty much what the rest of have done. He graduated from high school, went into the service when many of his friends either went to college or started working. He thought he was a pretty decent guy. After leaving the service he started going to college and ended up getting a job. He got married and had a couple of kids. He says he was a decent guy and worked hard. He received a few promotions, changed companies a few times and ended up being an executive. He has moved a few times, bought a couple of houses and has had a few nice cars.

I was listening patiently to Rich as he told me all this stuff. Inside I just wanted to know how to get the fountain. I suppose I have my own history and he is right, he has different dates and places and some of the circumstances are different but his story is a lot like mine. After a little thought I suppose your story is somewhat similar. Heck, he even says he was in jail at one point of his life. Rich tells me he wasn’t too happy with life and worried about a lot of things. He worried that when he found the fountain that it may have been a bad thing because he may be spending an eternity in one bad situation after another. Ironically he says that the fountain has a guarantee of joy and happiness. He says you need to choose that way but once you do the guarantee kicks in immediately.

I’m hooked, I’m in, and I want the fountain! This is murder waiting here and I can sense we are coming to an end to Rich’s story so the fountain will be reveled momentarily. I must hold on and be patient.

News Flash…war just broke out on a North African country and both sides are saying this could be a 500 year war. Soldiers on both sides want assurances that enlistments will have time limits set.

Wait a minute! If Rich has the knowledge of the Fountain of Youth and I don’t then 10 minutes or 10 years makes no difference to HIM. I need to get the answer…

News Flash…NASA has detected a previously unknown meteor in outer space and it is on a direct collision course with our planet. NASA officials estimate that it will collide with the Earth in 376 days. At this time NASA and government officials from 13 countries say mobilization to prevent the collision are impossible. That means all of us will have one more birthday, a few of us will have two.

What good is the fountain now? I suspect not too many people will be seeking the fountain and Rich’s five minutes of fame are now over. Looks like he will perish just like the rest of us. As I get ready to pack up and leave this dingy town, this no good place I was sent to by my boss to get an article that nobody will care about, Rich is still trying to tell me the rest of the story. Looks like he is bent on sharing the “good” news. I shake my head and put away my laptop computer. The tape recorder is off and the car is packed. I put the car in drive and begin to head down the road. Something, I’m not sure what, tugs at me to stop and turn around. I feel drawn to turn back. I feel like I just need to know.

As I pull back into the driveway, Rich is sitting on the porch. He says he was hoping that I would return because it doesn’t matter if the meteor should hit or not, the fountain is still available and he reminds me of the guarantee. OH my gosh, this guy is wacky! He thinks he can out live the meteor. I probably should have kept on driving.

Then Rich reveals some things to me. He says he knows he will live forever. Actually he says we all will live forever. He tells me that once I come to grasp what he is about to tell me I will understand that I have just begun to live my life of eternity. I will understand that I have just discovered my own fountain of youth and will see clearly how the guarantee works. I am pulled back into this news story and sit back down to listen. I can’t get that meteor out of my mind and wrestle to pay attention. Parts of me really don’t want to be here. Life is now going to be too short and I should get back to my wife and kids. I should begin to make arrangements, you know, the kind that nobody wants to deal with. Then again what difference does that make nobody will be around to even remember we were here?

Rich finished telling me how to get the fountain. I now need to share it with you all. He says he was just like me. Not really interested in learning the secret. He said he had too many things going on in life to chase some Fountain of Youth. Now, like him I am glad I didn’t keep on driving.

Rich revealed God’s plan for me, he told me that God created me to live forever and that every man and woman no matter how old is living in their youth. This is the beginning of your life into eternity. This time here on earth is but a blink of the eye compared to the length of time we are going to live. The fountain is the Bible, God’s living word. He handed me a bible and told me to read it. He told me how Jesus forgave every sin I ever committed and has forgotten those sins and from this point forward, from the point of hearing the name of Jesus Christ I am aware of the impact my choices have and I establish the beginning of the guarantee. I have committed to letting Jesus come into my life this day and have asked Him for my salvation. I have chosen to live forever in Joy and happiness. I will not choose to ignore the name of Jesus and live eternity in gloom.

I was told one more thing before I drove away. I was told that I needed to share this news with everyone I met. I must be on a campaign to give everyone the chance to choose for those who do not hear the choice are also going to live forever. They just won’t be with me and that makes me sad. I want my neighbors, friends and family to have the chance to choose.

News Flash…the meteor, which NASA named Adam, just impacted at longitudghjgn54d…

I hope you choose like Rich and I did to choose eternity with Jesus. Worshiping God in all his glory forever and ever. 1000 year loans, 500 year wars, a meteor named Adam may not be reality, but we all have our problems and concerns. Sometimes we are too busy to pause and take stock of the real meaning to life and the short time we have to walk on this earth. God has revealed himself to us and when we put eternity into perspective we can begin to understand what is truly important. At the end of your life, who will care if you have made millions, where you lived, what your children’s names were, what kind of car you drove? The fact is in a short time you will be forgotten among those still here on earth and one thing will remain, the eternal word of God. You will pass into eternity and it will either be heaven or hell and the choice is yours.

Financial planners, career coaches and many other types of lifestyle professionals are paid to plot a plan for your life. The problem is the plan is a short term plan even though they say it is a long term plan. I am not saying that you shouldn’t seek advice in these matters and many of these professionals do a fantastic job. I am saying that to gain real perspective seek the goal of eternity with Jesus first. Once that matter is handled, the other less important things become easier and less critical. The false “rat race” comes to an end. The meteors of our lives become less daunting and the end of our life here on earth is looked forward to in peace.

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