Fun House Ride

The fun-house operator pulled up the restraining bar on the carnival ride and the John and Marie dropped into the plastic seats. Little did the operator know what John and Marie were about to do. John and Marie were about to commit suicide in a fun house ride at the carnival. These poor souls had dropped to the lowest point in human life. Their marriage to each other had crumbled, their parents had just died, their child had run away from home, they had both lost their jobs, and they were now faced with living in their car for shelter. This suicide would make the news. This double suicide would show the world what a mess John and Marie thought the world had made out of their lives. Both people had a revolver. As the fun-house cars pulled into the darkness of the ride, John and Marie pulled out their respective weapons. As John and Marie each raised the revolver and pointed the barrel at their temple, the ride abruptly stopped in the darkness. Then John and Marie found themselves in a semi-lit room with two chairs and a movie screen. A voice that seemed to come from a loudspeaker system asked them to get out of the ride and sit down. Not knowing why, both people obediently complied. A video started playing on the screen. The video was in split screen. John instantly recognized a woman on his side of the screen as his mother, as did Marie who saw her mother on her side of the screen. John and Marie could each see their mom holding a baby. Both mothers were rocking back and forth to calm the crying child. Then their fathers appeared and took the baby calling the baby by name. John and Marie both realized the babies on the screen being held by the mothers and fathers were themselves.

Remarkably, John and Marie could hear the thoughts of each mom and dad. Each mom and dad was praying for the child. As the video played on, John and Marie were given a replay of their lives. They saw their parents cheering them on at ball games, filled with pride at school plays, walking together to the store, playing together with their moms and dads on the floor at home, and there were scenes of every Christmas they spent together with their family. Every moment of their lives was replayed. In every scene, there was a digital counter counting up the times John and Marie were given a blessing by others. There were scenes of aunts and uncles, of grandparents, of neighbors, of friends, and scenes of people they did not know giving them kindness, showing love, and praying for each of them. At times, it seemed there was the sound of a thousand voices thinking about them or praying for them. There were acts of kindness for John and Marie they had never seen or known about. There were people they did not know worrying over them. The blessings counter spin wildly into the hundreds of thousands as the years sped by. John and Marie could see their fathers doing difficult work to keep them fed. They could see their moms crying over things that had happened to them...and the blessings counter spun on. Suddenly the video ended with the picture of John and Marie, now in so much pain…with pistols stuck to their temples. John and Marie were in shock. They did not know they had been so blessed. They did not know so many people cared. They did not know so many people prayed. They did not know how important they had been to so many others. They did not know about the sacrifice their parents and others had made to raise them…until now. In an instant, they were back in the carnival fun house ride still with the pistols stuck to their temples. However, John and Marie both pulled the guns down and put the guns away. As the ride came back out into the daylight, John and Marie came back out into a new world. The carnival was the same. The people all looked the same, but everything was different. Now they knew fully. They no longer knew in part. Now they knew fully how much people loved them and cared about them. Now they knew…

1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (NIV)

This facetious story first appeared in January, 2007, in the Virtual Church web site at http://www.shepherdscare.net