The Best Exchange Rate

You'll be sad to know that I lost control of my car the other day.

I forgot to keep up with the payments.

Thanks for joining us today.

You're listening to Lafagan with Phil Callaway.

You follow the stock market at all.

If so, you may want to lean in and listen carefully to this breaking news.

This, my friend, is the Lafagan Stock Market Report.

Yiliam is way up, while paper remains stationary.

Dissels have lost a few points, and anchors are at an all-time low.

Hiking equipment is trailing, but knives are up sharply.

Elevators, too, are on the rise, while escalators continue their slow decline.

Shirts have remained on top, while pants are down below the middle, just above socks.

The sun, peaked at midday, balloon prices are inflated, light switches are off, but batteries

exploded in an attempt to recharge the market.

Dipers remain unchanged.

Well, there you go.

I'm not one to follow the stock market too closely, but since I travel a lot, I keep

an eye on the exchange rates.

Lately, the Canadian dollar plunged lower than my high school math marks, and it got me

thinking about exchange rates.

Would you like to know about the best exchange rate on Earth?

I'll tell you about it in a minute.

In 10th grade, I was tricked into reading a tale of two cities, when my English teacher,

Mr. Albiner, told us that the book was for a mature audience, and not suitable for

high schoolers like ourselves.

I could hardly wait to get home and crack the cover and read that first page.

It is the story of two men.

The first Charles Darnet is honorable and courageous.

A French nobleman, he moves to England, renouncing ties to his family because of their

legacy of cruelty towards the lower class.

The second man is Sidney Carton.

He is lazy.

He drinks too much.

The two couldn't have been more opposite, but for one striking characteristic, they look

almost identical.

The two fall in love with the same woman, Lucy Manette, but Lucy only has eyes for

Charles.

Lucy and Charles marry and begin life together as Sidney sinks deeper into despair and

self-loathing.

And then comes twist number one.

As the revolution breaks out in France, the honorable Darnet travels to his homeland to

rescue a friend in trouble.

Along the way, he is arrested, put on trial, and sentenced to death for the crimes of

his family.

Having of Darnet's sentence, Sidney Carton travels to Paris to visit his old friend in

prison.

The guard admits him into Darnet's cell, the two men talk.

And when Charles turns his back, it's twist number two.

Sidney puts a rag filled with chloroform over Darnet's face, changes clothing with his

unconscious friend, then calls the guard to remove his guest.

The guard falls for the trick, as the men are nearly identical.

When Sidney Carton ascends the steps to the guillotine in place of Charles Darnet, he

utters those famous last words before his execution.

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.

And he gives his life away so another could go free.

I was in 10th grade reading this, and I didn't know a thing about exchange rates, but

I would realize one day that the story reminds us of the greatest exchange in history.

A story we celebrate each Easter.

A story of an innocent man who died in my place.

First Corinthians 521 says God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him

we might become the righteousness of God.

I am thunderstruck each Easter to reflect on the great exchange.

Jesus took my sin and offered me his righteousness.

He died our death.

We received his life.

He loves us.

May you be reminded today of our real reason for joy.

May you trust him today.

And if you need some stock market advice, I wouldn't listen to me.

But our advisors here at Lafagan are suggesting that you pull your money out of goose feathers

before they go down.

Happy Easter, my friend.

God bless you.

This Easter may we never lose the wonder of the crown.

Christ is risen, and that changes everything.

Jesus, the word that spoke the universe into existence that became flesh and dwelt among

us, burst from the grave, defeating death and offering life.

He could not be silent, and he will have the final word.

That is the good news.

From all of us at Lafagan, may your Easter be renewed with wonder for our Savior.