Once upon a time there was a boy named Johnny Pullet but his friends called him Ducky. He was the youngest child, lowest on the pecking order you could say, in his family and he loved Jesus.  His older brother, on the other hand, put on a tough outer shell, a real rotten egg, and acted as if he’d never go to church. He scrambled like a wild chicken whenever Johnny would come over. Easy invitations to attend Easter services weren’t to be for Ducky. In fact, it was hard. Boiled by his brother’s refusal to even consider attending Easter service Ducky decided to pray that the brothers would not be unequally yoked but would one day be a big happy Christian family.

One morning, as he was walking around his house (he was on the sunny side) up ahead he spied his brother who seemingly had poached an out-of-season female pheasant, a hen.  His brother also saw Ducky and laid into Johnny as his eyes grew the size of ostrich eggs. “Benedict Arnold you will be, if you tell anyone what I did,” his brother in a Yoda-like manner said, while also thinking he had done a dastardly deed.

Not wanting to get his brother in trouble, but also not wanting him to be devilled by his ways, Ducky, again, decided to pray. In a moment of inspiration, Ducky hatched a plan. He got cracking, combed his hair and ran to his brother’s house. A small place, Johnny felt cooped up in it, but he boldly asked his brother, “If you aren’t in trouble with the game warden, will you come to Easter Services with me?”

“If I am not in fowl (sic) with the law, “omeletting” you know, I will give you a carton of my finest treasures AND go to church with you.”  Ducky quickly showed him that the “pheasant” wasn’t a pheasant but just a heap of feathers from a previous hunting expedition. His brother took a gander at the feathery mess and said, “Well, I’ll be a Gizzard’s uncle, you’re right! Let’s whisk off to church!”

Proud as a rooster, Ducky walked into the church with his brother by his side that Easter.  His brother loved it and has been coming ever since. He even met a nice chick and the two planned to get married as soon as they find a fryer (friar) willing to officiate their happy nuptials.

The end.

Moral of the story: Don’t keep your eggs in one basket. Keep praying and inviting people to Easter Services in as many ways as you can. The services will be Egg-citing and Egg-cellent and your friends will be glad you invited them!

The following 29 chicken and egg (which came first?) words were hidden in the story above: Carton, Chick, Chicken, Comb, Coop, Cracking, Devilled, Duck, Eggs Benedict, Fowl, Friar, Gander, Gizzard, Hard Boiled, Hatch, Hen, Laid, Omelet, Over Easy, Pecking Order, Poached, Pullet, Rooster, Rotten Egg, Scrambled, Shell, Sunny Side Up, Whisk and Yoke