a really meaningful story.. read it in an email. and since it maybe a chain email.. i decided to post it here. ya. please take time to read it and feel free to copy it and post it in your own blog

There once was a man named George Thomas, pastor in a small New Englandtown. One Easter Sunday morning he came to the Church carrying a rusty,bent, old bird cage, and set it by the pulpit. Eyebrows were raised and, as if in response, Pastor Thomas began to speak..."I was walking through town yesterday when I saw a young boy coming toward me swinging this bird cage. On the bottom of the cage were three little wild birds, shivering with cold and fright. I stopped the lad and asked, "What you got there, son?" "Just some old birds," came the reply."What are you gonna do with them?" I asked."Take 'em home and have fun with 'em," he answered. "I'm gonna tease 'emand pull out their feathers to make 'em fight. I'm gonna have a real good time." "But you'll get tired of those birds sooner or later. What will you do?""Oh, I got some cats," said the little boy. "They like birds. I'll take 'em to them."The pastor was silent for a moment. "How much do you want for those birds, son?""Huh??!!! Why, you don't want them birds, mister. They're just plain oldfield birds. They don't sing. They ain't even pretty!""How much?" the pastor asked again.The boy sized up the pastor as if he were crazy and said, "$10?"The pastor reached in his pocket and took out a ten dollar bill. Heplaced it in the boy's hand. In a flash, the boy was gone.The pastor picked up the cage and gently carried it to the end of thealley where there was a tree and a grassy spot Setting the cage down, heopened the door, and by softly tapping the bars persuaded the birds out,setting them free.Well, that explained the empty bird cage on the pulpit, and then thepastor began to tell this story.One day Satan and Jesus were having a conversation. Satan had just comefrom the Garden of Eden, and he was gloating and boasting. "Yes, sir, I just caught the world full of people down there. Set me a trap, used baitI knew they couldn't resist. Got 'em all!""What are you going to do with them?" Jesus asked.Satan replied, "Oh, I'm gonna have fun! I'm gonna teach them how to marryand divorce each other, how to hate and abuse each other, how to drink andsmoke and curse. I'm gonna teach them how to invent guns and bombs andkill each other. I'm really gonna have fun!""And what will you do when you get done with them?" Jesus asked. "Oh, I'll kill 'em," Satan glared proudly. "How much do you want for them?" Jesus asked"Oh, you don't want those people. They ain't no good. Why, you'll takethem and they'll just hate you. They'll spit on you, curse you and killyou. You don't want those people!!""How much?" He asked again.Satan looked at Jesus and sneered, "All your blood, tears and your life."And Jesus said, "done."Then He paid the price.The pastor picked up the cage he opened the door and he walked from the pulpit.Notes: Isn't it funny how simple it is for people to trash God and thenwonder why the world's going to hell.Isn't it funny how someone can say "I believe in God" but still follow Satan (who, by the way, also "believes" in God).Isn't it funny how you can send a thousand jokes through e-mail and theyspread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding theLord, people think twice about sharing?Isn't it funny how when you go to forward this message, you will not sendit to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe,or what they will think of you for sending it to them.Isn't it funny how I can be more worried about what other people think ofme than what God thinks of me.