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I love practical jokes, except when they backfire! One day I thought I would scare our office secretary named Faye. In my preparation, I asked another lady friend if I could borrow an old purse and a pair of older dress shoes. I got a funny look. I assured her it wasn’t for me. 

Before Faye came into work one morning, I went into the ladies restroom, which was located down the hall. It only had one stall. I went inside the stall and placed the pair of shoes on the floor directly in front of the toilet. I then put a long wooden stick in each shoe, and I leaned each stick against the toilet, followed by slipping a pair of my slacks over the sticks. 

I locked the stall on the inside, and crawled out underneath the door. I placed the purse on the counter close to the sink, and splattered water. I left the bathroom light on, and walked back to my office and waited for Faye to arrive. 

I knew she would be taking her morning break. Finally, the moment arrived. She left her office and walked to the restroom, but she immediately came back to her office. She waited a few minutes. She walked back to the restroom. When she saw that someone was still in the stall, she said, “Eloise?” 

When she got no response, she ran to my boss’ office. “Steve, an old lady has died on the toilet.” He went inside the ladies restroom and looked over the stall. Faye went to a conference room and sat down and laid her head down on the table. Steve came into my office. “Did you do this? Go clean it up NOW!”

I ran to the ladies restroom and gathered everything. I walked into the conference room. Faye said, “You made my blood pressure go up!” I apologized and walked back to my office with my tail between my legs. I felt like a fool for making Faye believe something that wasn’t real.

In Unto the Hills, the late Billy Graham wrote:

“Therefore, while man looks foolish for believing a lie in the form of a practical joke, God calls a person who refuses to believe in Him a fool. In the one case, a person is a fool for believing something that is not true, that was made up. In the other case, a person is described as foolish who refuses to acknowledge God’s ample evidence for existing, for His love for us, for His desire that we might come to know Him through Jesus Christ and for His provision for us throughout our lives.”

Yeah, the joke is on the person who refuses to believe the God who is very real. He puts Creation in front of our eyes every day. He sent Jesus. David said, “Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; no one does good!” (Psalm 14:1, NLT).