If you could use a little good news today, here are a few stories to cheer you up. We begin in Rio Linda, California, where last December a man dressed as Santa was in for a shock. Highway Patrol reported that jolly old St. Nick was flying a parachute with a motor and wheels. He was on his way to deliver candy canes to community kids when he found himself entangled in power lines.
As you might suspect, this sparked the gathering of quite a crowd.
Colleen Bousliman, who lives nearby, said the pilot flies overhead often. "He flies
. . . around so people can see and flies around people's houses," said Colleen. "This was the first time he was in his Santa suit."
Neighbors watched as crews rescued the jolly old elf from the power lines and declared him, well, free-of-charge. Uninjured and lowered to safety, Santa was ex-static. Okay. Enough puns. For now.
Elsewhere . . . a woman in Winter Haven, Florida, called 911 in a bit of a panic: Her husband had called her from their storage garage where he had found an alligator locked in it.
"He says it's big," she reported. So brave and intrepid Sheriff's Deputy Mark Trexler responded and quickly handled the gator. But first he took pictures to share with friends. That's right. He came. He saw. He conquered the beast. He even knocked the wind out of the fierce creature. Literally. The gator, you see, turned out to be a pool floatie.
In other news, Beulah McCreery of Tuscumbia, Missouri made it well past her 108th birthday and was a glowing image of Christ. Imagine the changes Beulah saw in eleven decades.
"We didn't have a car," she remembered in an interview. "We didn't go to town and buy toys like they do now."
On her first date, a young man named Raymond took her to a dog and pony show. "He asked me to go with him and I went," she said. "You probably won't believe this, but it only took a dime to get in. And I didn't even have ten cents. So, he paid my way. That was my first date."
The date turned into 76 years of marriage.
Together Raymond and Beulah raised two sons, Roger and Lee. Roger remembers his mom's dedication to her family and the farm. "She worked hard. Not just in the house, but outside too."
The McCreerys eventually had six granddaughters, eight great-grandchildren, and ten great-great-grandchildren.
For many years, Beulah taught Sunday School, sharing her faith in Jesus with generations to come. She taught them to mind their parents, to go to church, to treat others like they would want others to treat them.
"I'm very proud of her," said Roger, "not just for her age, but for who she was."
Beulah lived her whole live in faithfulness to God. I know of no better inheritance we can leave behind for the next generation. It sure beats one of those alligator floaties, that's for sure. By the way, you know how to tell the difference between a gator and a crocodile, don't you? One says, "See you later," the other says, "In a while."
Phil Callaway is the author of Laugh Like A Kid Again and the host of Laugh Again Radio. Visit him at philcallaway.com.
