Love In A Bottle
Filed under Christmas Stories
The value of this short Christian story: The Love of God
Brad and Janet had to do a science report on a current event in science going on in their community for their sixth grade science class. Then they saw in the paper that a scientist on the other end of town was almost ready to get a breakthrough on bottling an important thing that everyone needs. So they called up and got permission to come out and be there for the final tests.
When Brad and Janet arrived, the laboratory wasn’t exactly what they expected. It was on the edge of town and the bus went a long way into the grounds and dropped them off to pick them up again in an hour or so.
photo credit: Philgarlic
“Brad, this looks like an old castle more than a laboratory of a scientist.” Janet complained.
“For goodness sake, Janet, get a hold of yourself. It’s ok. Lots of scientists use old buildings. It helps them save money. Ring the bell.” So Janet but the huge black button but instead of a DING DONG, the sound of a gong rang through the entire building. It was getting dark so they were eager to be inside. The sound of footsteps came from inside and then the big wooden door that was more like a church door than a business creaked and moaned and opened. There in the doorway was a very strange man. He was small, about as small as Brad and Janet and they were children. He was bent over and his back seemed to pooch out in back like there was something wrong with it. He had stringy hair and he spoke badly, like he had a bad speech impediment.
The Beggar Prince
Filed under Christmas Stories
The value of this short Christian story: The Lost
Explanation to teachers and parents. I do not usually have to explain the theme of a children’s story but this one may be misinterpreted. In this story of a prince who is lost from his kingdom, it might be easy to interpret the prince as being Jesus himself, the son of the King who came to live with us on sinful earth. But that is not the intent of this story. The prince represents each of us as children of God who are not aware that our father is the King and deliberately do not enter into our inheritance and remain lost in the squalor and poverty of sin.
“THE SON OF THE KING IS LOST!” The cry went out from runners on horseback who galloped through every street, every village, every field and forest of the kingdom with the terrible news. Young prince Roger was missing. The King was frantic to find his only son. Posters showing his face were up on every tree and wall that could bear his image. The reward as more than most peasants could even count much less inherit and the search for the child royalty was the all that the people of the kingdom could talk about. photo credit: macieklew
Even in the beggar’s village, the anxiety for the lost prince was noticeable. While the poor, the homeless, the sick and the outcasts that were citizens of this village were often too absorbed with survival and finding safe and peaceful places to sleep and eat, the thought of their beloved prince being lost, stolen or dead was heartbreaking to them. The prince was the darling of the kingdom. At only twelve, every boy wanted to be him, every girl his future bride and every parent his future in laws..
Godfrey lived in the beggar village with his uncle Sven although he rarely saw his Uncle because he was often off finding food for them or trying to get honest work. So Godfrey had time in the village to make friends and even play, like the other boys and girls of rich people could do. To a beggar a rich person is just someone with a real mom and dad, a house to live in, clothes that were clean and new, a school to go to and enough to eat not to mention presents at Christmas.
Godfrey went down to the “playground” which was an area of the city that various boxes, tubes and broken toys that were thrown away by people who were not beggars threw away were gathered for the children to play with during the day. Uncle Sven organized this playground so somebody made sure the things there were “safe” or as safe as a playground in a beggars village could be. As Godfrey was trying to take apart a broken tool, he looked up and saw a boy he did not recognize. He walked over to introduce himself.
“Hello, my name is Godfrey. Who are you?”
“I don’t know.” The boy answered mysteriously.
“What do you mean you don’t know? You know your name and who you live with don’t you?” Godfrey objected.
“No. I forgot everything. I don’t know my name and I don’t live with anyone. Someone found me wandering on the streets of Kingdom City and they brought me here because they said beggars have to live here. I don’t think I have a name. I am not anybody.”
Sharks
Filed under Christmas Stories
The value of this short Christian story: Thou Shall not Kill
Everyone on the fishing trawler knew about the dangers of sharks. When they brought their nets in, they saw the big dangerous beasts in the water feeding off of what got loose form their catch. Oliver’s uncle Nemo often talked to him about the dangers before he agreed to let him work as cabin boy on the ship for a summer. Oliver was the only kid on the boat but the sailors liked him and he learned a lot about fishing from them.
The day the ship sank was like any other day. But everybody heard the explosion in the engine room and what it meant when the boat began to tilt because water was filling it from below. They had done drills on this often. Oliver was put in a small life raft boat first since he was the youngest. He held the rope that tied his raft to the ship hoping that soon his uncle and some of the men would join him. But suddenly there was a jolt as the sinking ship jerked in the water. The rope broke and Oliver’s raft began to drift.
He called out to the ship as the rest of the men got into boats and they were yelling back that they would catch up to him. It looked like everybody got off and would be safe but the waves took him further and further away until Oliver couldn’t see anyone any more. He was alone on the open sea in a tiny life raft.
Oliver knew to conserve his energies and he found the supplies and sun block to keep himself safe and healthy while he waited for rescue. That was when he saw the large fin in the water circling his raft. He knew what it was. The great white shark circled and circled as though thinking about what it was going to do. All of a sudden, there was a pop at the back of the inflatable raft. It had sprung a leak. At first, Oliver thought the shark had rammed him but then he saw the big fish several yards in front of the boat watching him so he knew it wasn’t the shark’s fault.
Rubik’s Cube
Filed under Christmas Stories
The value of this short Christian story : Missions
Paul did not want to go on the mission trip to Ghana. He was absolutely terrified of going. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Olson had gone on many such trips and knew the joys that came from the hardships and especially the joys of sharing Jesus with people who wanted to know him so very much. So they made him go even though he pouted and looked very afraid all the way over on the plane no matter what mommy and daddy said to comfort him.
When they arrived and got settled, everything Paul was afraid of turned out to be true. He hated it all. They didn’t have a nice hotel room to stay in. They had a hut. The food was weird and hard to eat and made of things American kids don’t eat. The people looked funny, didn’t speak English and they even smelled strange to Paul. None of the events or work assignments they got were fun to Paul and he felt sick a lot because he didn’t like the food and didn’t sleep well. Noises in the night there were so different from home.
So Paul just stayed in his hut every day as his parents went out and ministered to the people of the village. No matter how many wonderful stories he heard of God’s miracles and the fun they were having getting to know the people, Paul was stubborn and he would not leave his hut. He just sat there day in and day out and played with his Rubik’s cube. He loved that toy. It was very good for keeping his mind off of his surroundings and trying to solve it which he never did.
The Good Talker
Filed under Christmas Stories
The value of this short Christian story : Spiritual Gifts
“Who needs him, he’s such a loser.” Roger responded to his friend Steven when the subject of Danny came up.
“That’s a pretty harsh thing to say about your brother.” Steven responded. Roger knew it was harsh. He thought back when he and Danny were kids. Danny, the older by a year and a half, was always the guy who could “fix anything”. Oh, how mom and dad bragged on Danny when he fixed the washing machine or the lawnmower of unclogged a drain in the kitchen. At first, Roger tried to learn to do what Danny did but it never worked out.
Finally, in high school, Roger found his gift and like his own dad, it was the gift of gab. He won competition after competition in speech, debate and other forms of speech giving. He seemed to have a natural ability to talk to people, give speeches or just get people to see things his way or rally to his cause. It served him well as he moved into a sales career whereas Danny built a very successful auto mechanics business around his skill.
But sadly, for all the success the brothers had their dislike of each other kept them apart. Danny never understood by talking was a good skill and Roger thought being able to tinker with machines or pipes or wires was a geeky way to be. They fought about it endlessly until Danny moved out but holidays were always tense except when they went to see Grandma. Everything stopped at Grandma’s house because she saw them as her sweet baby boys and for a while when they visited her, they were sweet and children again, innocent and always ready to play.
Steven left his friend Roger in his office thinking about his brother. Roger wondered if there ever be a way to make things ok between them. He didn’t know that over I his garage, while fixing a car, Danny was wondering the same thing. Roger’s thoughts were broken by the phone ringing. He answered it. The sound of urgency in the voice was frightening.
