Blog

Karen walked out to the backyard where her grandmother was pruning a rosebush. "Hi, honey," Grandma greeted her. Seeing Karen's unhappy face, she asked, "What seems to be the trouble?"

"Oh, Gram!" Karen exclaimed. "It's Morgan! I thought we were best friends, but she hardly even speaks to me lately!"

"Really?" asked Grandma. "And what caused that?"

"Well . . . Janie said Morgan's jacket looked dumb," replied Karen, "and I said I thought so, too. We were just teasing!" Karen sighed. "We all make fun of each other. The others say I have a weird way of eating ice cream, and we tease Janie about her laugh--she sounds just like a donkey! Morgan sometimes dresses goofy. I don't know why she got so upset when we said so this time!"

"I see," murmured Grandma. She hesitated and then picked a rose and handed it to Karen. "Let's see how long it will take you to pull all the petals off this flower, one by one," said Grandma. She looked at her watch. "Ready? Go!"

Karen looked at Grandma curiously, but began to tear off the petals as fast as she could, finishing soon after she began. "Good. That didn't take long," said Grandma. "Now let's see how long it takes you to put all the petals back on the stem. Are you ready?" FULL POST

"It's just not fair," stormed Cole as he and Pete came into the kitchen after school. "I'm your own brother!"

Mom looked up. "What are you two arguing about?" she asked.

"Pete asked another kid to do his paper route for him while he's at church camp," Cole told her. "He could have asked me. He knows I could use the money. He's just being . . ."

"Hey! I asked you to help me not long ago," broke in Pete. "I told you to put the papers on the porches in case it rained. But you were in such a hurry to finish, you just tossed them toward the houses, not bothering to see where they landed. It did rain, and my customers were not happy."

"I remember hearing Pete warn you that his customers complain when their papers get wet, Cole," said Mom. "I guess it's no wonder he doesn't want to give you the responsibility of his paper route for three whole days!"

Cole glared at his brother. "I think he's being mean," muttered Cole as he stomped away.

For family devotions that evening, Dad read aloud from the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew. (See today's Scripture). "What happened to the servants who faithfully took care of the things for which they were responsible?" Dad asked.

"They were rewarded," said Pete promptly. FULL POST

When little Adam let out a loud scream, Mom hurried to the backyard to see what happened. "I just took this piece of glass away from him," explained Tami, holding out a glittering piece of broken glass. "Adam found it on the ground and was about to put it in his mouth when I stopped him. He didn't like that."

Mom picked up the little boy. "Thanks for watching him so carefully, Tami," she said. "You probably saved him from getting a bad cut."

Tami shrugged. "Yeah, but Adam sure didn't appreciate it," she said. "He thought I was being mean."

"I know. That's because he's just a baby," Mom replied. "Babies don't always understand that you're helping them." She smiled at Tami. "You've helped me a lot by watching Adam today," added Mom, "but now it's time for his nap. Would you like to go play with Carrie for a while? Or ask her to come over?"

"Carrie is mad at me," replied Tami. "She was mad at her mom for making her turn off a TV show their family used to watch before they were Christians. When I said her mom was right and that I wasn't allowed to watch it either because it's not a good show, Carrie got mad at me, too."

"That's too bad," said Mom. "Try to remember that she hasn't been saved very long, and be patient with her. It's like she's just a baby Christian." FULL POST

Photo: Flickr/Britt Reints - Creative Commons

As Micah opened the back door, he saw that his mother was taking chocolate chip cookies from the oven. "Yummy!" exclaimed Sammy, Micah's little brother. "Those smell so good! Can we have some?"

Mom smiled. "You can each have a glass of milk and two cookies for a snack," she said.

Sammy got his milk and eagerly helped himself to two cookies, but Micah shook his head. "I'm getting ready to run an important track race, so I need to have healthy snacks now," he declared. "Can I have a banana?"

"Sure," agreed Mom, so Micah took a banana to the living room, turned on the television, and settled down to relax while he watched a talk show.

After a few minutes, Mom came into the room. "What are you watching?" she asked, looking at the TV screen. "What I just heard didn't sound like something you should be listening to."

Micah looked embarrassed. "It's just an afternoon talk show," he said. "I'm going to turn it off and start on my homework as soon as I finish my banana." FULL POST

Passenger trains no longer came through the little town of Judson, but for the city's anniversary celebration, a train was running on the old tracks once again. "Look, Dad!" exclaimed John, pointing to a sign.

"Free Rides!" Dad read aloud. "Climb aboard and enjoy an old-fashioned train ride to Rock Island." So John and Dad got on the train.

After what seemed a long time, John asked, "Shouldn't we be going by now?"

Dad looked around. "Maybe they're waiting for more people," he suggested.

Just then a conductor stepped into the car. "Guess you folks didn't read the sign carefully," he said after greeting the people. "This car's not going anywhere."

"How come?" asked John in surprise.

"It's on a side track and isn't hooked up to an engine," the man explained. "The train on the main track is the one we're using. It will be back soon, and then you can have a ride."

John and his father felt a little foolish as they and several others got off the train to wait. "We got on that train fully expecting a ride to Rock Island, but we didn't get there," Dad observed. "We were on the wrong track and weren't attached to the engine we needed. That reminds me of Uncle Perry."

"It does? Why?" asked John. FULL POST

Jenna glanced out the window just as elderly Mrs. Carlson tripped over the curb and fell to the ground. I wish Mom were home, thought Jenna as she jumped up and ran out to see if her neighbor was hurt. Mrs. Carlson was trying to get up when Jenna reached her, but she obviously was in great pain. "It's my back," gasped Mrs. Carlson. "I hope I didn't break it."

"Don't move," cautioned Jenna. "You might hurt yourself worse. I'll go and call 911." Mrs. Carlson nodded, and Jenna ran back into the house.

When Jenna returned, Mrs. Carlson looked up and smiled weakly. "Thanks so much, Jenna," she said. "You seem to know what to do." Soon the ambulance arrived, and the paramedics carefully lifted Mrs. Carlson into the vehicle.

At Sunday school the next day, Jenna told her class about the incident. "I'm glad I took a first aid course last summer," said Jenna. "I knew enough to have Mrs. Carlson lie still so she wouldn't hurt herself worse."

"That's great!" exclaimed Mr. Berry, the teacher. "It's good to know what to do in emergencies." He paused briefly. "You know," he added, "it's good to be prepared to give physical help when it's needed, and we should also be prepared to give spiritual help to those we meet." FULL POST

Charlie pushed open the door that had a sign with Dr. David Brown--the name of his father--printed on it. As he entered the waiting room, the office nurse smiled at him. "Hi, Charlie," she said. "Your dad is almost done for the day. He'll be with you in a few minutes."

Soon Charlie and his father were in the car, headed for home. "Dad, I heard on the radio that the president was having his annual checkup today," said Charlie. "When people come in for a one of those, they usually feel okay, don't they? So how do you tell whether they're sick or not?"

"Well, we check a lot of things and may run some tests," said Dad with a smile. "Generally, if the vital signs are all good, the patient is healthy."

"Vital signs?" asked Charlie. "Like what?"

"Oh, things like blood pressure, heartbeat, and lungs," said Dad. "I also check the patients' height and weight and look at their ears, eyes, nose, and throat. I ask if they have any complaints at all. If I suspect there's any problem, I order other tests."

"And that's why a checkup is so important?" asked Charlie. "Because there might be something wrong even if you feel good?"

Dad nodded. "The sooner illnesses are detected and treated, the better the chance of a cure," he said. As he turned into the driveway, Dad added, "There's another kind of checkup that's even more important--and it's one we can give ourselves." FULL POST

"All together now!" Amanda called out. She and Grandpa sat in the back of a pedal boat; her sister Jessica and Grandma sat in the front. They started out all pedaling together.

They were having a good time, but when Jessica got tired, she lifted her feet. For a while, Grandma kept pedaling, but then she stopped, too.

"I need to give my knees a rest," said Grandpa a few minutes later. He stretched his legs out on the side of the boat, leaving Amanda to pedal alone.

"This is too hard since you all of you quit," muttered Amanda. She quit pedaling, and the boat soon drifted to a stop.

They enjoyed drifting for a little while; then Grandpa sat up straight. "Pedaling is harder than it looks," he said, "but are you all ready to tackle it again? If we don't work together, we'll sit out here all day."

"Yeah, and I'm getting hungry," said Jessica. She lifted her feet and began to pedal. The others did the same, and soon they were back at the boat dock.

"That was fun," said Amanda as they headed for a restaurant, "except when I had to pedal alone."

Grandpa smiled. "That reminds me of a Bible verse," he said. "Galatians 6:2 says, Bear one another's burdens.' How can we do that?" FULL POST

Troy struggled to unscrew the lid of a small bottle of paint he needed to use on a model airplane he'd gotten for his birthday. His face turned red as he tried with all his might to turn the lid. Finally, he took the bottle out to the garage, picked up one of Dad's screwdrivers, and tried to pry the lid off. The screwdriver slipped and jabbed his finger. "Ouch!" Troy cried as he watched a trickle of blood run from the cut. He put the bottle down and went into the house for a bandage.

When Troy returned to the garage, Dad had just gotten home from work. "What did you do to your finger?" Dad asked, looking at the bandage on Troy's hand. Troy explained about the lid. "Did you read the directions on the bottle?" asked Dad.

"Directions?" Troy frowned. "To open a bottle?"

Dad picked up the bottle of paint and pointed to the writing on the top of the lid. "It says to push down and then turn, Troy. Did you do that?"

Troy shook his head. "I didn't see that," he said. When he followed the directions, the lid came off easily. Troy laughed. "Next time I try something new, I'll know enough to read the directions. Want to see how far I've got my model done, Dad?"

"Sure," Dad replied, and they went into the house. "Good job," said Dad, admiring the model airplane. "I hope your sore finger won't bother you too much while you finish it." FULL POST

Elijah looked up when his grandma spoke. "Why so glum, buddy?" she asked.

"No one likes me," replied Elijah with a sigh. "The kids call me big mouth."

"And why is that?" asked Grandma.

"I . . . I said something about a guy on my soccer team, and he found out," said Elijah. "And then . . . well, I told a secret after I promised Patrick I wouldn't."

"Hm-m-m," murmured Grandma, taking a book of Chinese folk tales from a shelf. She settled into a chair near Elijah. "Maybe this story will help you," she said.

Grandma began to read aloud. "In a small Chinese village a woman known for her hateful way of talking about others, decided one morning to turn over a new leaf. She wanted to be remembered for good things. So she went to the wisest old man in the village. I don't want people to remember me as a hateful loud mouth,' she said. How can I make it right?'"

Grandma glanced at Elijah, then continued reading. "The old man stood up, looked around his small home, and picked up a pillow. Let's take a walk,' he said, ripping a hole in the pillow. As they walked all over the village, he held the pillow in the breeze and let the tiny white feathers inside float away.

"Puzzled, the woman looked at the old man. Aren't you going to tell me how to make things right with the people in this village?' she asked. FULL POST