dead

Kay Martin, a secretary to a New Zealand MP, got the fright of her life last year. According to the Auckland Sunday Star, she and a friend

were chatting when they heard a chicken squawking. The bird sounded in

some distress, so they went outside to investigate, thinking perhaps that it had escaped from one of the neighbors. But there were no chickens anywhere.

Then Martin realized with horror that the sound was coming from her own kitchen -- coming, in fact, from the oven, where she had put a chicken in to roast half an hour earlier. "It was as if it was shrieking at me from its grave," she said. "It was so bizarre I just froze."

As they approached the oven, the squawking reached a crescendo. They took the tray out, and as the chicken began to cool, the squawking died away.

Martin chopped the neck off and threw it in the sink. She noticed that the vocal chords were intact. "Steam was coming up the neck from the stuffing," says Martin, and this had caused the dead bird to squawk. She has not cooked chicken since.

Those are us who are Christians have put to death the "old man of sin" (Rom. 6:11). Unfortunately, though, sometimes the "old man" rears its ugly head and makes a commotion in our lives (Rom. 7:19-20), and it becomes necessary to take drastic action to shut it up!

"But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." (Rom. 6:17-18)

Father, bless us with a determination to live lives of holiness before you. Though the sins of our past continue to seek to tempt us to be drawn away from you, we pray for strength as we strive to be slaves of righteousness. In Jesus' name, amen.