As I mentioned in a recent Salvationist.ca article (see “Jokes for Judah” [Jokes for Judah - Salvation Army Canada]), my eight-year-old grandboy Judah has been begging me for jokes. He is in a wheelchair, so it’s impossible to say no. Five or six months in a wheelchair with an infected femur, and he continues to surprise us with his good cheer. Most children, young and old, enjoy surprise endings, so today I’ve come prepared.

“Moo, Moo”

Here’s the first joke I tell Judah. Three guys escape from prison and hide in the forest. Two are bright, one isn’t. The guards look everywhere for them, but they are well hidden up in the trees. Suddenly, a guard hears a slight rustling in a tree. “Hey, is anyone up there?” The first escapee says, “Tweet, tweet!”

“Oh, it’s just a bird!” says the guard and moves on. When he comes to another suspicious tree, he looks up and shouts, “Hey, is anyone up there?”

The escapee says, “Meow, meow!”

“Oh, it’s just a cat!” says the guard, and moves on. Finally, he comes to another tree where there are rustling noises. Looking up, he says, “Hey, is anyone up there?”

The prisoner, who isn’t so smart, knows he must think fast! So he says, “Moo, moo!”

Judah loves this joke far more than I thought he would. I’ll tell jokes all day if it will help him feel better. And it does. Mort Walker, who wrote and drew the syndicated cartoon Beetle Bailey, once said, “Laughter is the brush that sweeps away the cobwebs of the heart.” How true.

“Praise the Lord!”

So I tell another joke for Judah.

One day, a man bought a horse from a minister. The minister said, “I must warn you: this is no ordinary horse. To make it go, you must say, ‘Praise the Lord.’ To make it stop, you must say, ‘Amen.’ ”

The man climbed on the horse and said, “Praise the Lord.”

The horse took off like greased lightning, and soon the man realized they were coming to a cliff up ahead. Frantically, he tried to remember what to say to stop the horse.

He yelled, “Halt! Stop! God bless you! Hallelujah!” Nothing worked. Knowing he was going to fall to his death riding a horse over a cliff, he said a final prayer, ending with “Amen.” The horse stopped just inches before the cliff!

Overjoyed, the man shouted at the top of his lungs, “Praise the Lord!”

“Laughter is the brush that sweeps away the cobwebs of the heart.” MORT WALKER

“Amen”

Lately we’ve been praising the Lord for doctors and nurses and the commitment of Judah’s parents, who have his four siblings to care for as well.

I asked his mom, who is my daughter, how it’s going today.

“Sometimes the sadness of it all washes over me and I sit in it for a while,” she replied. “I have had the peace of God that passes all understanding. But that doesn’t hide the sadness of the surgeries my son has had to have, and the wheelchair in our home. Seeing him do wheelies or race down the centre aisle in our church after services brings a smile. He struggles back up again, only to zoom down once more. I see him having fun, and I’m thankful, but still that wheelchair is there, reminding me of what my son has been through and what he continues to fight. I can’t protect him from so many things. I feel helpless. How good to know that God has us in the palm of His hand.”

Isaiah 49:16 says, “See, I have written your name on the palms of My hands” (New Living Translation). Do you feel like you’re racing toward the edge of a cliff today? Talk to God. Thank Him for His unfailing love for you. Go ahead and praise the Lord. And don’t forget to say, “Amen.”