Elizabeth and I went on a long trip for a wedding the other week.  That is why we were not here with you that Sunday.  Weddings are a very important day when a man and a woman promise to each other and to God and to all the guests at the wedding that they will stick it out together, though thick and through thin.  And if they have a family, they must make that family a safe place for the children. This is a part of God’s plan for us.  That mommies and daddies make a safe place for their children.

“It was a beautiful wedding!” said Elizabeth.  “The bride wore the most beautiful white gown and the groom was really cool.  They got married out side under a big white tent beside a lake.  And there was a lady playing the harp.  It was just like from a romantic story.  I believe they will live happily ever after.  I think some day I will get married and live happily ever after too!”

Elizabeth thought about her mother . . . and father.  Some times Elizabeth looks at their wedding album and sees all the romantic photos of that day her mother and father got married.

“I guess they are living happily every after!” said Elizabeth.  “Well, usually they are happily ever after.  I guess sometimes they have fights, but then I always see them kiss and say about being sorry.  So I guess that “happily ever after” can have a few fights.  Just not too many.”

Elizabeth’s best friend is Barabas.  Barabas lives with his Uncle Floyd because his mother died and his father was in jail, but now his father lives in CA.  His father is a maintenance man at Disneyland!  He just got that job this month.  He invited Barabas and Uncle Floyd to come visit him next summer when school is out.  Oh Boy!

So, you get married and you are hoping to live happily ever after, but what happened for Barabas’s parents?  I guess it was not happily ever after for them, because really sad things came. 

“I wonder what happened to their wedding album?” thought Elizabeth.  “I wonder why sometimes it is not happily ever after.”

You know, things do get broken.  The car can get broken. Your glasses can get broken.  Your basketball hoop can get broken.  A family can get broken.  Often you can repair what is broken however sometimes you just need to throw the broken pieces away because it is too broken. 

Barabas’s family was too broken.  But when a family gets broken, you don’t throw the pieces away.  You don’t throw the people away.  Those people can have another chance for a new life.  And that is exactly what happened for Barabas.  When Frank went to jail, Frank’s big brother Floyd, stepped in to the rescue.  And so it is that Barabas’s new family is with Uncle Floyd.  And that is a very special family, even if it is not a mommy and daddy family like Elizabeth has.

Uncle Floyd is Frank’s big brother who came to the rescue. 

Jesus is our big brother who comes to our rescue!  Jesus can take people from a broken family and give them a new life.  Frank sure does have a new life out in CA.  You see, Jesus has called us His brothers and sisters and he is like our big brother.

So, for Elizabeth’s family it looks like “happily ever after” and for Barabas’s family it looks like “a whole new life”.  And both of those happen because Jesus has come to rescue us and forgive us and love us. 

THE END

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