A little girl whose parents had died lived with her grandmother and slept in an upstairs bedroom.  One night there was a fire in the house and the grandmother perished while trying to rescue the child.  The fires spread quickly, and the first floor was engulfed in flames. 

Neighbors called the fire department, then stood helplessly by, unable to enter the house because flames blocked all the entrances.  The little girl appeared at an upstairs window, crying for help, just as word spread among the crowd that firefighters would be delayed a few minutes because they were all at another fire. 

Suddenly, a man appeared with a ladder, put it up against the side of the house and disappeared inside.  When he appeared, he had the little girl in his arms.  He delivered the child to the waiting arms below, then disappeared into 
the night. 

An investigation revealed that the child had no living relatives, and weeks later a meeting was held in the town hall to determine who would take the child into their home and bring her up. 

A teacher said she would raise the child.  She pointed out she could ensure her a good education.  A farmer offered her an upbringing on his farm.  He pointed out that living on a farm was healthy and satisfying.  Others spoke, giving their reasons why it was to the child's advantage to live with them. 

Finally, the town's richest resident arose and said, “I can give this child all the advantages that you have mentioned here, plus money and everything money can buy.” 

Throughout all this, the child remained silent, her eyes on the floor.  “Does anyone else want to speak?” asked the meeting chairman.  A man came forward from the back of the hall.  His gait was slow and he seemed in pain. When he got to the front of the room, he stood directly before the little girl and held out his arms.  The crowd gasped.  His hand and arms were terribly scarred. 

The child cried out, “This is the man who rescued me!”  With a leap, she threw her arms around the man's neck, holding on for dear life, just as she had that fateful night.  She buried her face on his shoulder and sobbed for a few moments.  Then she looked up and smiled at him. 

“This meeting is adjourned,” said the chairman. 

There are many religions today, and there are just as many claims for peace, wealth, happiness, health, etc.  And when you look at some of them  from a distance, they may sound good.  But there is one big difference I see between other religious beliefs and mine. 

Some faiths have their Buddha, their Mohammed, Hari Krishna, or what have you.  But which of these men have ever been able to do for me even half of what Jesus did.  I'm not saying these weren't good men and didn't have some good ideas or beliefs.  But when it comes down to it, what did they do personally for me. 

On the other hand, Jesus came to my dangerous, evil filled, heart-breaking world, became a human being just like me, suffered just like me, died a horrible death and took the punishment that I (not he) deserved.  And after being scarred from my sin with wounds on his body, nails in his hands and feet, not to mention the mental and emotional agony, and ultimate death,  to rescue me from that awful fate, he came before all these others who tried to promise me a bright future, and spread out his arms to me, scars visible, vulnerable and unassuming, and just waited there in love for me to come.  Now I ask you, whose care would you chose to place your life in? 

We spend our lives looking for love.  We are happy when we find it and disappointed when it disappears.  We entrust our lives sometimes quickly and freely, only to find that our trust was misplaced, our love was taken advantage of, the one who supposedly loved us and promised an eternal love perhaps gone leaving a shattered life in its wake. 

But Jesus has already proved himself.  He proved himself to be caring in the greatest way he could...even before I knew of him or loved him, or did anything for him...even when there was no promise that I would ever come to him, he loved me and died for me so that I could have an eternal relationship with him.  And all he wants from me in return is a relationship.  He wants me to trust him with my life, my heart, my soul.  He wants me to allow him to give me a life beyond what I could ever hope for or imagine.  Why not?