Jack Armstrong’s Decoder Ring

Jack Armstrong Decoder Ring

Rushing home after school so that I could listen to my favorite fifteen minute programs on the radio was an exciting time in my young life. There was Little Orphan Annie, Jack Armstrong the All American Boy, and Captain Midnight, to name a few. 

Each week Jack Armstrong would give a coded secret message and only those listeners who owned the special ring could discover what it was.

Oh Me !!
image courtesy photobucket

I did not have the ring.

To obtain the ring, you needed four Wheaties cereal box tops and a few coins.

At our house the cereal Wheaties, “The Breakfast of Champions,” was not our favorite, so it looked as if I was not to be part of the secret circle.

The radio announcer would tell you to set your ring at a certain number and then you could find the answer to the puzzle.

My girl friend Delores had one of the special rings and I was extremely jealous and told my mother that I needed one of those rings.

Mother advised me that I must eat four boxes of Wheaties if she were to purchase them, and that I did not want to do. I was willing to eat Cheerios and Rice Chex also made by the General Foods Company, just not the Wheaties.

Mother was always creative and she arrived at a plan to discover the secret of the rings. When the next puzzle was aired over the radio, she took down the numbers and gave each letter of the alphabet a number. It was not a simple task, but finally she figured out the message.

It was usually “Buy War Bonds,” or Obey your parents”, or something that was not prophetic. Soon the magic wore off, and I was not jealous of Delores anymore, or even cared about the ring with its secret message.

Now it was the Little Orphan Annie Ovaltine Shake-up Mug that I must have!

Isn’t that the way it is as we grow older. There are things that we though we simply could not do without, but then the glitter falls away and now there is something new that we think we need.

When it comes to the things of God, salvation is offered freely, but there is much more that he is willing to give.

He desires us to be filled with His Holy Spirit and to receive the power needed to minister and live for Him.   God longs to reveal New treasures that you never even thought you might desire or require.

He does not request cereal box tops or coins, only come boldly and freely receive.

Offer Jesus your life and he will give you His Life. That is the great exchange.

Linked to Shanda’s On your Heart Tuesday 
and with Joan Davis Sharing His Beauty