DEAD CHICKEN BONE

“Who wants to make a wish?”

Mama stood on the back porch, the wishbone held high in her hand. Legs pumping into action my two brothers and I raced towards her. I had to win because this time my wish had to come true.

Panting hard I grasped the prize and studied it carefully to find the strong side. My fingers crept up a bit on my half, not enough to cheat, but enough to give me a better grip. I held the weak side of the bone out to my brother and with eyes shut tight, my whole being focused on the silent wish… Snap! The bone broke…

I was five years old and my family was a mess. I felt so small and helpless. Somewhere out there had to be a power that could save us. My wish was always the same because there had to be a good fairy, a lucky star, or a four-leaf clover that could change our lives. If there wasn’t, then life was hopeless.

Years later I discovered that power when one day my whole world fell in on me. All alone and desperate, I bargained with a God I did not believe in, “God, if you are real, help me now and I’ll read your book!”

Help came, so I kept my promise and read the Bible, but it made no sense. So I joined a home Bible study and there I heard incredible truths I never knew. I found out I was a sinner! I was born a sinner and there is a price to pay for sin. I was in debt! The situation got worse, because the only way for me to settle the debt was with my life. “For the wages of sin is death…” (Rom 6:23 KJV).

To learn more I worked up the courage to attend a church where I heard the rest of the story: Up in heaven was a God who loved me and had a plan to save me.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

(John 3:16 KJV).

God had sent his Son Jesus Christ to die on a cross in order to pay the debt I owed. If I believed this and asked him to forgive me, my debt would be paid-in-full; plus he would send the Holy Spirit to live within me to show me a better way to live and He would give me the gift of eternal life.

Now I don’t make fowl wishes, instead, I pray, because there is a power out there and it isn’t in the bone from a dead chicken, nor is it in a wooden charm carved by human hands or a crystal on a chain. Instead, it is in a relationship with my Father in heaven who knows my name. He hears my prayers and answers me...

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble."

Psalm 46:1 KJV