Object: A piece of fine china, a beautiful book, and a piece of fine jewelry.

Good morning, boys and girls. How are you on such a lovely day as this first Sunday of the new year? Just think, the world is another year older by our count. There are different ideas about getting old, depending upon whom you talk to. How many of the boys and girls here this morning would like to be 16 years old? A lot of you? How many wish you were only two years old? Not very many want to be two years old. You want to grow up to be older than you are now.

Older people like your moms and dads joke a lot about getting older. Someday when we get so old, we will leave this world and go to live with God in a very special way. I want to talk to you about that special way in a little while. But first I want to tel…