"SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN?"

Okesa, Oklahoma is a small unincorporated place northwest of Tulsa near Osage State Park. There is not a post office as the community is smaller than a postage stamp. Okesa does boast of a country store which doubles as a gin mill with blue plate specials.

However, back in the early 1900's, Okesa was the favorite place for rustlers and bandits to rob trains. Because of the terrain, trains had to slow to cross numerous streams and valleys which made it the chosen spot for trains robbers.

In 1911, Elmer McCurdy mistakenly robbed a passenger train he thought contained thousands of dollars. The disappointed outlaw made off with just $46, couple bottles of whiskey and the train conductor's watch. Worse yet, McCurdy was shot and killed by lawmen hired as train security.

McCurdy’s unclaimed corpse was then embalmed with an arsenic preparation which has the same effect of making the body mummified. When no one claimed the body and paid the undertaker's fees, McCurdy's body was sold by the undertaker to a traveling carnival and exhibited as a sideshow curiosity.

 For about 60 years, McCurdy’s body was bought and sold by various haunted houses and wax museums for use as a prop or attraction. His corpse finally wound up in a Long Beach, California, amusement park funhouse. During filming there in 1976 for the television show “The Six Million Dollar Man,” the prop’s finger (or arm, depending on the account) broke off, revealing human tissue. Subsequent testing by the Los Angeles coroner’s office revealed the prop was actually McCurdy's mummified body. He was buried at the famous Boot Hill cemetery in Dodge City, Kansas, 66 years after his death.

 This true story is a stark reminder of death and what happens to our earthly remains. Luckily, if you are a Christian who has admitted to being a sinner and believed Jesus rose from the dead, then you have no need to worry or care what happens to your earthly body.

That's right you will not care one iota about your old body. 1 Corinthians 15:57 puts it simple and easy for anyone to understand……." But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Eternal Father, thank You for giving us a way to beat death and overcome sin by trusting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Let us rejoice and sing the old gospel song "There Ain't No Grave" which can keep us from enjoying eternal life in heaven!