Cartoon Dreams
Filed under Christmas Stories
The value of this short Christian story : Is Idolatry Bad?
Kimberly loved cartoons. It was a pretty big hobby before but when mom and dad let her have a TV in her room, she really started loving cartoons even more. She loved the old ones a lot like Bugs Bunny, The Roadrunner, Popeye and lots of new ones too. Recently the one she liked best was Roscoe Rabbit. On Saturday nights, they play three hours of Roscoe Rabbit in a row. So Kimberly goes to bed early to curl up for a long fun evening of watching cartoons.
As half hour episode after half hour episode drifted by, Kimberly thought she felt herself drifting off to sleep. She really couldn’t tell the difference between sleep and being awake. Suddenly she woke up feeling a strange shaking sound and a high squeaky voice saying, “Kimberley, Kimberley, wake up, we have a long way to go and a lot to do.”
She felt herself come away slowly and suddenly bolting up staring right into that strange face. “Who are you?” she shouted although she recognized him right away.
“Well, I’m Roscoe Rabbit of course, come on, we have to travel three dozen galaxies to get to Moonblind where you will live forever”
“What do you mean forever?” But before she could get an answer, his white gloved hand closed on hers and they shot out in space like two Fourth of July rockets out into the cosmos and past the sun. Kimberly felt herself changed into just a blur of cartoon steam as she rocketed past stars and planets and comets sometimes doing squiggly patterns and loop-de-loops in space and then THUNK she was standing on a completely cartooned world, holding hands with the cartoon Roscoe Rabbit who was twice as big as her.
“Well, here we are? What do you want to do first?” Roscoe said in that goofy cartoon voice of his.
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Daddy The Superhero
Filed under Christmas Stories
The value of this short Christian story: Honor your Father and Mother
Brandon and Sean loved superheroes. They loved Superman and Batman and the Fantastic Four and dozens and dozens more. They rooms were overflowing with action figures and comic books of all of the most amazing super heroes in the imaginary world and they knew their names and their stories to the tiniest little detail.
“Tell me the favorite thing you like about a superhero.” Mommy aced them as they settled in for their evening devotionals.
“Well,” Sean started. “They always defeat evil. Evil monsters and people who want to hurt innocent people are always wiped out by superheroes when they use their superhuman powers.” He said making punching thrusts into the air sitting on the couch with mommy in his footy pajamas.
“What I like is that superheroes are never afraid and always know what to do.” Brandon added looking into space like he could see his favorite superhero right there in front of him.
“Well I am going to tell you of a real superhero that you live with. We will call him SUPERDADDY.” Mommy said happily.
The boys burst into laughter. They thought of their Daddy as someone who sat at his computer working, a shy gentle man with his hair starting to go away. “Daddy isn’t a superhero!” They said together.
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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.
