Nearly all of us can recall a time in our childhood when other children pulled a prank on us or carried out a joke at our expense. Perhaps they sent us on a “snipe hunt” or on a “fool’s errand.” Most of us know what it is like to fall for incorrect information that leads us on a proverbial “wild goose chase.”

Children love stories. We all love stories. Good stories engage our minds and hearts as they subtly teach us morals of courage, honesty or many other qualities. Stories powerfully demonstrate the results of good or bad choices and of right or wrong ways of life. Stories are powerful teaching tools.

In striking down the “Defense of Marriage Act,” the United States Supreme Court today has made a ruling that virtually ensures the spread of the vile practice of “same-sex marriage.” Something that practically no one would even have dreamed of 20 or 30 years ago—the idea that two men or two women can have a valid “marriage” receiving the same benefits as a traditional marriage—has now been established as the law of the land in the United States.

There is a line from a poem by William Ross Wallace (1819–1881) that you have probably heard. He wrote, “For the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.”

“I have bad news and good news. Which do you want to hear first?” This is a premise of some jokes and also of some serious diagnoses. No one wants to hear bad news, while we all love good news. Prophets of God and Jesus Christ Himself delivered both bad news and good news.