The Sign of the Fish

Its been forever since I posted. Things have gotten unexpectedly busy around here these days and the thought of posting exzuted way to much brain power. But last week I was asked by a family member if I knew where the fish came from when we saw one on a bumper in traffic. I had forgotten but have a bookmarker that explains it all and promised I would share it- so here it is a week later with a bit more than the marker provided. Sorta neat to know the story after being clueless for so many years.



The earliest followers of Jesus were persecuted and forced to worship in secret locations. They adopted a secret symbol as a means of identification between fellow Christians in a pagan world. The earliest followers of Jesus were persecuted and forced to worship in hidden locations. Often these believers would scratch the secret symbol of a fish in the ground to help them identify other Christians.

Not only was fish a common food of the day, often used and referenced by Jesus during His ministry, but the letters which make up the Greek word for "fish" (IXØ U S ) also spell out a secret message about our Lord. I-Jesus, X-Christ, Ø -God’s, U -Son, S -Savior.

Smuggling

Marty and I ran into our sister-in-law while out to breakfast Sunday morning. She is incredibly talented at "twisting" different things out of balloons and made us an angel to take to a friend in the hospital. While she was making it she warned us that the balloons are made of latex and are not allowed in the hospital - so we would have to smuggle the angel up to our friends room. No problem I thought, I'll just hide it under my coat. Well the angel was so big she just about could have worn my coat and there's no doubt the many people we walked by to get to the 3rd floor saw the huge bulge under my coat. I'm not sure why I kept going with it under my coat but I did. I really didn't want it taken away. Looking back now I feel like an idiot for trying to hide it. We made it to the 3rd floor and as I was walking past a hospital employee in a waiting room part of the angels skirt, (or tutu because it was a ballerina with wings) popped with a really loud bang. The hospital staffer just about fell out of his chair. I can with out a doubt say I wasn't the only one trying to swallow my heart back into my chest. The guy looked right at me and asked what was that!? Of course there was no hiding the fact that it came from the huge bulge in my coat. This is where I was asking myself again why I didn't just carry it in to be seen by all, how would they have known it was latex?? I told him it was a surprise balloon and just kept going as fast as I could, thank heavens my friends room was right around the corner. When I arrived my heart was pounding, it was all I could do to stop laughing. I will never try and sneak anything into a hospital again.