Devotionals
Kids Say the Funniest Things
A Sunday School teacher decided to have her young class memorize one of the most quoted passages in the Bible ~~ Psalm 23.  She gave the youngsters a month to learn the verse.  Little Bobby was excited about the task, but he just could remember the Psalm.  After much practice, he could barely get past the first line.  On the day that the kids were scheduled to recite Psalm 23 in front of the congregation, Bobby was so nervous.  When it was his turn, he stepped up to the microphone and said proudly, "The Lord is my Shepherd......and that is all I need to know!"
 
When a mother saw a thunderstorm forming in mid-afternoon, she worried about her 7 year old daughter who would be walking the 3 blocks from school to home.  Decided to meet her, the mother saw her daughter walking nonchalantly along, stopping to smile whenever lightning flashed.  Seeing her mother, the little girl ran to her, explaining happily, "All the way home, God's been taking my picture!"
 
A mother took her 3 year old daughter to church for the first time.  The church lights were lowered and then the choir came down the aisle, carrying lighted candles.  All was quiet until the little one started to sing in a loud voice, "Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you....."
 
A little boy walked down the beach, as as he did, he spied a matronly woman sitting under a beach umbrella on the sand.  He walked up to her and asked, "Are you a Christian?"  "Yes."  "Do you read your Bible every day?"  She nodded her head, "Yes."  "Do you pray often?" the boy asked next, and again she answered, "Yes."  With that he asked his final question, "Will you hold my quarter while I go swimming?"
 
A Sunday School teacher asked her class, "Does anyone here know what we mean by sins of omission?"  A small girl replied, "Aren't those the sins we should have committed, but didn't."
 
A father was reading Bible stories to his young son.  He read, "The man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city, but his wife looked bak and was turned to salt."  His son asked, "What happened to the flea?"
 
Six-year old Angie and her 4 year old brother Joel were sitting together in church.  Joel giggled, sang, and talked out loud.  Finally, his big sister had enough.  "You're not supposed to talk out loud in church."  "Why? Who's going to stop me?" Joel asked.  Angie pointed to the back of the church and said, "See those two men standing by the door?  The hushers."
 
 

Morning, April 21
Today's Evening Reading
"I know that my Redeemer liveth." - Job 19:25

The marrow of Job's comfort lies in that little word "My" - "My Redeemer," and in the fact that the Redeemer lives. Oh! to get hold of a living Christ. We must get a property in him before we can enjoy him. What is gold in the mine to me? Men are beggars in Peru, and beg their bread in California. It is gold in my purse which will satisfy my necessities, by purchasing the bread I need. So a Redeemer who does not redeem me, an avenger who will never stand up for my blood, of what avail were such? Rest not content until by faith you can say "Yes, I cast myself upon my living Lord; and he is mine." It may be you hold him with a feeble hand; you half think it presumption to say, "He lives as my Redeemer;" yet, remember if you have but faith as a grain of mustard seed, that little faith entitles you to say it. But there is also another word here, expressive of Job's strong confidence, "I know." To say, "I hope so, I trust so" is comfortable; and there are thousands in the fold of Jesus who hardly ever get much further. But to reach the essence of consolation you must say, "I know." Ifs, buts, and perhapses, are sure murderers of peace and comfort. Doubts are dreary things in times of sorrow. Like wasps they sting the soul! If I have any suspicion that Christ is not mine, then there is vinegar mingled with the gall of death; but if I know that Jesus lives for me, then darkness is not dark: even the night is light about me. Surely if Job, in those ages before the coming and advent of Christ, could say, "I know," we should not speak less positively. God forbid that our positiveness should be presumption. Let us see that our evidences are right, lest we build upon an ungrounded hope; and then let us not be satisfied with the mere foundation, for it is from the upper rooms that we get the widest prospect. A living Redeemer, truly mine, is joy unspeakable.

-- C.H.Spurgeon Morning and Evening Daily Devotional