"Gotcha Ya!"

“Gotcha Ya!”

Jimmy was a little boy, in the fourth grade, who had reddish, brown hair, big, brown eyes and freckles all over his face. Something else about Jimmy you need to know is Jimmy loved Jesus with all his heart, and a few months back, he had prayed and asked God to forgive him for ALL the bad things he had done.  And Jimmy was a BOLD witness for Jesus to all the kids at school.

He would walk around, telling everyone, “Jesus loves you!”  He always asked the blessings over his food at lunchtime, and prayed hard over every test he took.

Well, there were two boys, who didn’t like Jimmy very much and they were always picking on him, and whenever he would say, “Jesus loves you!”  They would say an ugly word back at him, but that didn’t stop Jimmy.

When it was Jimmy’s birthday, he asked his mom if he could do something a little different for his birthday at school.   “Sure if that’s what you want to do?”  She said.  So they put their heads together and came up with a plan.

They bought treats for all his classmates, but before the kids got the treat, they had to solve this riddle:  “What’s brown and red, rough not smooth, it’s used to prove Jesus loves you?”

So the kids all got in a line and one at a time they had to whisper in Jimmy’s ear their answer.  When Jimmy read the riddle out loud, the two boys that had said the ugly words to him whenever he told them; “Jesus loves you!” hung back and decided they weren’t going to play that silly game. They said, “we don’t care whether we get a treat or not.

So the two boys walked away until they saw that the treat was a big, yummy, melt-in-your mouth, and chocolatey chocolate bar.  YUM! YUM!

Those two boys came running to Jimmy, “Ok, what’s the riddle, we changed our minds.”  So Jimmy told them the riddle: “What’s brown and red, rough not smooth, and is used to prove that Jesus loves you?” 

The two boys looked at each other, then shrugged their shoulders and they started to walk away.  Then Jimmy, called them back and reached into the big gift bag and pulled out two, big, sweet, melt-in-your-mouth, chocolatey candy bars and on the wrapper was printed, “Jesus loves you!”, he handed the candy bars over to each of them , they looked at him and one of them said, “but we didn’t have the answer to the riddle!”

 It’s ok, think about it,” Jimmy said, “and by the way, “Jesus loves YOU!” 

Do you know the answer to the riddle? Think about it!!    (ans. The cross)

"A Home for Johnny"

“A Home for Johnny”

 

 

 

Johnny was eight years old, and he had lived in a Children’s home since was three.  A lot of the kids that were there when Johnny first came there, had been adopted, which made Johnny sad, he wanted a mom and dad too.  But it seemed to Johnny that no one wanted him.

One of Johnny‘s feet was not formed right and he walked with a big limp, he couldn’t run, so he couldn’t play softball, football or soccer, like normal little boys do. 

One day, Johnny was sitting on the porch swing, and a man and woman walked up on the porch and they walked over to the swing and the man said to Johnny, “Hi, I’m Sam Brown and this is my wife, Maggie, do you know where we could find Ms. Parks? “ Johnny got up from the swing and took the man and woman into the house and they met with Ms. Parks.

Johnny went back to the swing, wondering which child they would take home with them.  After about an hour, the man, woman and Ms. Parks came out on the porch, they walked up to Johnny.  Ms. Parks looked at Johnny and said, “Johnny these nice people would like you to go home with them for the weekend, would you like to do that?  They live on a farm, and you will have a great time.” 

Johnny’s face lit up, a BIG smile zipped across his freckled face.   “Sure I would!”  He said, “But Ms. Parks, what about, you know.”  He said, pointing at his misshaped foot.  “It’s ok, Johnny!” Sam said, smiling, “you’ll be fine.”

So Johnny packed up and went home with Sam and Maggie.  He loved their little farm, with baby goats, chickens, a cow, and a big pond filled with lots of fish. 

Sam took Johnny out in a little row boat to the middle of the pond, and Johnny hooked a BIG catfish, and boy did he ever fight, but Sam helped Johnny bring him in.  And Maggie baked Johnny his favorite, big, soft, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate-chip cookies. 

On Sunday they all went to church, and Johnny really liked that.  He felt like part of a real family.  Sunday night when Maggie and Sam were tucking Johnny in bed, and saying good night, Johnny started to cry, “Johnny, why are you crying?”  Maggie asked.  Johnny looked into Maggie’s eyes, “I have to leave tomorrow, and I’m sad I just want a mom and dad, like you and Sam.”  Johnny said. 

Then Johnny hugged Maggie, and she started crying too.  Sam came over and put his arm around Johnny and Maggie and said; “Johnny, would you really like to come and be our son and live here with us?” Sam asked.  “Oh, yes sir, I would like that very much, if I could.”  Johnny exclaimed.  “We’ll work on it.”  Sam said. 

Johnny went back to the Children’s home with hope in his heart after some time, Johnny was able to go and live with Sam and Maggie as their son.  He was adopted into their family and was a very HAPPY little boy. 

 

That’s the way it is with us and God.   He wants us to be a part of His family.  To be adopted and become one of His Children.  Romans 8:15 says …we received God’s Spirit when He adopted us as His own Children.  Now we call Him, Abba, Father.

 

 

 

 

"Jasper's Temptation"

“Jasper’s Temptation”

 Johnny and Jill were brother and sister.  Johnny was two years older than Jill, and like most brothers and sisters, they had moments when they would fuss with each other.  But for the most part they got along together pretty good.

The one thing they both loved to do was to go out in the backyard and play with Jasper, their big golden haired dog.  Now Jasper had one problem he loved, I mean REALLY LOVED to chase rabbits.  And the woods around Johnny and Jill’s house was full of cute, furry, brown bunnies with fluffy, white tails and pink, wiggly noses.  And those bunnies were fast at getting away from Jasper.  It was as if they were tempting him to chase them, because they knew he was behind a chain-link fence. 

Now, Johnny and Jill lived next door to Mrs. Coggins, and Mrs. Coggins was somewhat of a society lady.  She was always having some sort of tea party, and when the weather was nice and pretty, she held her fancy tea parties under her big magnolia tree. 

One pretty day, Johnny and Jill were out in their backyard playing with Jasper, and Mrs. Coggins had a pretty, round table all set up under her tree with her pretty china teapot and teacups, with little china plates setting on top of the table.  She brought out a plate of big, golden brown, melt in your mouth, sugar cookies that glistened on top with sweet granules of white sugar sparkling in the sunlight. 

Boy, Johnny and Jill’s mouths were watering, and as Mrs. Coggins was going back into her house, a little brown, furry bunny with a white, fluffy tail and long ears, ran across Mrs. Coggins backyard and stopped right under the big magnolia tree.  Now, that sent Jasper into a wild frenzy as he paced back and forth behind the chain-link fence. 

Then he could stand it no longer, he ran and took a flying leap over the fence, across Mrs. Coggins’ backyard and right under the pretty table that was all set-up for the tea party.  Jasper, being a BIG dog did not fit under the table, so the table fell over scattering everything onto the ground.

Now, Jasper didn’t catch the bunny rabbit, but he sure enjoyed those big, golden brown, melt in your mouth sugar cookies.  And as he was gobbling up the last few cookies, Mrs. Coggins came running out of her house waving a broom at Jasper, who ran fast as he could and leaped back over the fence, with Mrs. Coggins running after him, yelling, “You’ll pay for this!!”

You see, Jasper was overcome by the temptation of running after something he couldn’t have, the bunny rabbit, which led to another temptation, the sugar cookies. 

The Bible tells us that we need to be ALERT so that we won’t enter into temptation and it tells us that our spirit is willing to NOT fall into temptation, but our flesh is weak.  So we need to pray and ask God to help us run away from the temptation and NOT run to it.  (Matt. 26:41)

"Slim's Wild Ride"

“Slim’s Wild Ride”

 

 

There was a really bad storm brewing, and Sam didn’t like storms very much, the wind began to blow and black clouds rolled across the evening sky.  Vivid lightning streaked from the black clouds to the ground, popping and cracking with a clash of loud thunder ever now and then. 

Then all of a sudden the power went out and for a few moments Sam and his mom and dad were in the dark.  So Sam’s mom quickly grabbed a lantern and some flashlights, then she turned on the lantern and there was a little light in the dark room. 

Sam felt a tad bit better, but he was beginning to tremble a little.  So his dad came over and put his arm around Sam’s shoulders, “Hey Sam, we’re going to be ok, we have light, and the weather radio and if it gets too bad we’ll go to the basement.  You know this storm reminds me of a story my dad told me, when I was about your age. 

There was this man who was real thin and everyone called him “Slim,” Slim had a dog that had real short legs and was skinny too, Slim called his dog “Shorty.”  Slim and shorty were always together.

One late afternoon, Slim and Shorty had just finished their supper, and they laid down on the sofa to watch the evening news.  The news person was telling about a person who claimed to have been kidnapped by aliens from outer-space.  Well, Slim and Shorty drifted off to sleep but a little later on that night, Slim and Shorty were awakened when the house began to shake and it sounded like a freight train coming.

Slim grabbed Shorty and ran out of the house and sure enough there was a BIG tornado coming through the back woods, Slim ran fast as his skinny old legs would go, then he saw a HUGE old hollow log lying on its side, so Slim and Shorty ran and squeezed  into the dark, hollowed out log.

Slim looked behind him, and noticed that they were not alone.  All He could see was two, BIG, bright eyes glaring at them from the other end of the log.  Then suddenly, the log started to shake and roll and it became airborne.  Slim knew that that ole tornado had gotten hold of their log, he looked to the back of the log and those two BIG, bright eyes were still staring at him and Shorty. 

Then there was a bright streak of lightning that flashed through the twisted cloud and Slim swore they were in that log with one of them outer-space aliens, but there was nothing they could do, except all go along for the WILD RIDE.

Then all of a sudden their log hit something and it began to roll on the ground for a few minutes, then it stopped, and when it stopped, Slim and Shorty QUICKLY crawled out of the BIG, hollowed out log, and into the bright sunshine.  Slim ran to the other end of the log, and bent down to look in, but there was nothing there.

Old Slim scratched his bald head, looked around and noticed that he and Shorty were just a few miles from home. So they started walking, and when they got to their house everything looked fine.

They walked upon the rickety, old porch and into the house.  They were both pretty tuckered out from their WILD RIDE, so they laid down on their sofa and drifted off to sleep, safe and sound.”

“Dad is that REALLY a true story?” Sam asked, “Well, nobody knows for sure, Slim swore up and down that he and Shorty took a WILD RIDE in a BIG, hollowed out log with a space alien, what you think?”  His Dad asked.  Then he said to Sam, “Hey, Sam look the storms over and the lights are back on.  And it’s time for bed, but this story reminds me what the Bible says about the TRUTH. 

In Psalm 15:2 it says that, “Only those who are innocent and who do what is right. Such people speak the truth from their hearts.”  Those are the ones who will be able to live on God’s holy mountain.  So Sam practice telling the TRUTH.

"The Best Fishing Trip, EVER!"

“The Best Fishing Trip, EVER!”

 

 

Jimmy and Johnny were best friends and had been since kindergarten, now they were going into fourth grade.  They did everything together and they would be going into the same class at school and had been in the same classes all along.

They camped out and fished together and even attended the same church and were even saved at the same time. 

One day, Johnny came over to Jimmy’s house to tell him some NOT so good news.  Johnny’s Dad’s job was sending him to another town, about one hundred miles away.  Jimmy was heartbroken, what would he do now? His very best friend was moving away.    Jimmy suddenly felt all alone, but he didn’t want to make his best friend any sadder then he already was. 

Then Jimmy came up with a GREAT plan.  They both loved going fishing so Jimmy started planning a fishing trip as a ‘going-away’ party.  He asked his dad to help, by taking them camping and fishing for the weekend.

Now Jimmy wanted this to be the best ever fishing trip that Johnny had EVER had.  So his Dad picked out the perfect spot.  Jimmy dug up a lot of big, squiggly, wiggly, worms and put them in some rich, black dirt in a big coffee can.  He really wanted Johnny to have a camping and fishing trip that he would NEVER forget.

The one sure way to be able to make it happen was to pray about it.  So he said; “God, this is Jimmy, and you know my best friend is moving away, and I want this fishing trip to be the best ever, one he will NEVER forget.  PLEASE let this happen.  Thanks, Amen!” 

Well, they made it to the camp site and settled in.  Early the next morning just as the sun was rising the boys and Jimmy’s Dad went down to the big lake, and was preparing for a GREAT day of fishing.  Jimmy was excited and happy because he just knew God was going to help make it the best fishing trip EVER for Johnny.

Jimmy put his hand in the coffee can and hunted around for the biggest, fattest, squirmiest worm he could find, when he found it, he walked over to his buddy and handed him the big, fat, squirmy worm, but not before he said, “oh, yeah, God, PLEASE use this worm for Johnny to be able to catch the biggest fish he’s ever caught.  Thanks!”  Johnny took the worm, put it on his hook and cast his line into the water.

Within minutes, he had two REAL hard hits.  So he set the hook and the battle was on.  It was a BIG catfish, it tugged so hard that it caught Johnny off guard and “SPLASH” into the lake he went, with the pole still clutched in his hand, he yelled out, “I think I  need HELP!!’

So Jimmy and his Dad ran to Johnny, but right before they got to him the fish pulled real hard and back in the lake, Johnny went.

Finally, they managed to get that MONSTER catfish on to the shore, with Johnny dripping wet, but he didn’t mind at all, because it really was the best fishing trip he had EVER been on.  Jimmy was grinning from ear to ear saying, “Thank you, God!! 

The Bible tells us to love one another, and Jimmy and Johnny was obedient to God and His Word. 

John 3:22 says, ‘We can receive whatever we ask from Him because we keep His commands and do what  is pleasing in His sight.”  So God answered Jimmy’s request, that Johnny’s fishing trip would be the “BEST” he ever had.  Because they kept His commands and it was all in God’s will.

"The Birthday Sleep-over"

“The Birthday Sleep-over”

 

 

Marcy was just about to turn nine years old, so she asked her mom if she could have a birthday sleep-over on Saturday and invite all the girls in her class except for Della.

Della was somewhat of a bully with the other girls.  She was always bossing them around, and had even threatened a couple of them.  But Marcy’s mom told her that it wouldn’t be right to invite all the girls except for Della.  So she had Marcy to make out an invitation to Della too.  Marcy was not too happy about it, but she did what her mom wanted her to do.

Marcy had put on the invitations for all the girls to bring church clothes, because they would all be going to church on Sunday.  Well, they all showed up to include Della, but Marcy noticed that Della had not brought any church clothes with her, so Marcy told her mom.  Marcy’s Mom said, “That’s ok, Marcy, you and Della look about the same size, we’ll find something for her to wear.  One little girl asked Della where her church clothes were, Della said, “I didn’t bring any, I’m going back home first thing in the morning!”

Marcy’s Mom noticed that Della was kind of pushy and bossy with the other girls, but nevertheless they all seemed to be having a really good time. 

The next morning Marcy’s Mom woke all the girls up early, with all of them grumbling about having to get up so early.  But they made it up and dressed for church.  Marcy’s mom found a pretty, frilly, pink blouse and a pair of navy blue pants that fit Della perfectly. 

They all ate one of Marcy’s favorite breakfasts, BIG, SWEET, STICKY, FRESH, WARM, GLAZED donuts and a tall glass of icy cold glass of milk.  YUM! YUM!

After church, Marcy’s Mom invited Della to have lunch with them, and of course, she accepted, they were going to the PIZZA PALACE! 

Well, Marcy wasn’t very pleased, but during lunch, Della began to ask questions about God, His love, and Jesus dying on the cross.  Just before they left the Pizza Palace, Della asked Marcy’s Mom if it would be ok for her to ask Jesus to come into her heart and to save her soul.  So right there in the Pizza Palace, Della gave her heart to Jesus, and on the way out she told everyone what she had done.

From that day on Della was a different little girl, she was sweet and kind to everyone.  No more bullying or pushing, just a NEW Della.  She and Marcy became best friends and Della went to church EVERY Sunday with Marcy and her family. 

The Bible tells us that “Anyone who belongs to Christ is a NEW person, the past is forgotten and everything is NEW.  (2Corinthians 5:17)

Just like Della, she became a NEW person and when she gave her heart to Jesus EVERYTHING became NEW.