In case you haven’t heard anything completely ridiculous yet today, we present the Laugh Again Stock Market Report.
Helium is up, while paper remains stationary. Pencils have lost a few points, and boat anchors are sinking. Hiking equipment is trailing, but knives are up sharply. Elevators are on the rise, while escalators continue their slow decline. Balloon prices are inflated, and batteries are exploding in an attempt to recharge the market. We suggest that you pull your money out of goose feathers before they go down. Finally, diapers remain unchanged.
Well, I’m not one to follow the stock market too closely. But I do notice when the Canadian dollar plunges lower than my High School math marks.
In tenth grade, I was tricked into reading A Tale Of Two Cities by my English teacher, Mr. Al Bienert, who told us that the book was for a mature audience, and we high schoolers should not be allowed to read such things. Naturally, I waited about 2.3 seconds to crack the cover.
In it, I met two men. Charles Darnay, a principled and courageous French nobleman who moved to England, renouncing family ties, because of the Darnay legacy of cruelty toward the lower class, and Sydney Carton, a brilliant but cynical drunkard. The two are opposites, except that they look almost identical. And the two fall in love with the same woman, Lucie Manette. Sadly, for principled Charles, Lucie only has eyes for Charles. When the two marry, Sydney crawls further into a bottle.
The French Revolution breaks out in France (where else?) and the honourable Darnay returns to his homeland to rescue a friend in trouble. Along the way, he is arrested and sentenced to death for the crimes of his family. Learning of Darnay’s sentence, the cynical Sydney Carton travels to Paris to visit his old friend in prison where he smothers Darnay’s face with a chloroformed rag and changes clothing with his unconscious friend. When he opens the cell door, the guard falls for the noble exchange.
Ascending the steps to the guillotine in place of Charles Darney, Sydney Carton utters these famous last words before giving his life for another: “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”
The story echoed another exchange of which I’d heard. “Greater love has no one than this,” says John 15:13, “than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Through the highs and lows of life, the Great Exchange is a constant reminder of God’s unquenchable love. Jesus took our sin and offered us his righteousness. He died our death, that we might receive his life.
