Then it happened… The bicycle began bouncing like a toad in a washing machine! There was a blinding flash of light and a loud noise like a turtle singing! Suddenly the army of Egypt and the Red Sea disappeared and….
They were riding the bicycle/time machine down a very dry and dusty road. It was so dusty that the Professor could not see where they were going! He drove the bicycle/time machine right into the side of a house with a tremendous crash! The Professor said, “Ooops” as he, Shane and Shelly went flying through the air, they flew right through the open window of the house and landed on a bed! There were three people in the house, an old man, a mother, and a young boy. The mother said, “Oh look, we have visitors to join us in our meal of Thanksgiving! Shane asked, “Is it Thanksgiving time?” The old man answered, “Every meal in this house is a meal of Thanksgiving!”
While the boy went to the village well to get water, the woman began to fix the meal. Shane and Shelly couldn’t wait to see the turkey, the dressing, the cranberry sauce, the mashed potatoes, and the blueberry pie! But the mother didn’t fix any of these things, instead she opened the container of flour and took out almost all of it, and then she opened a jar of olive oil and used almost all of that, and made a loaf of bread! There was not anything else! Just then the boy came in with a heavy pail of water, the Professor saw how heavy it was and said, “Let me help you with that.” The Professor took the pail of water, but he immediately managed to drop it all over the dirt floor! The Professor said, “Ooops!” The dirt floor was now a mud floor! The mother said, “Don’t worry about it, now the dust won’t fly around and get on the bread!” The boy ran quickly back to the well and got more water, this time he did not let the Professor help him.
The whole group sat down at the table and the mother said, “Elijah, won’t you pray and thank God for this wonderful meal and for our visitors?” The old man got to his feet and raised his hands toward heaven and shouted, “God, we thank you for providing this great meal, just as you have done every day. We thank you for our visitors, and I pray that they will learn to be truly thankful!” Shane whispered to Shelly, “He sounds like he really is thankful for this meal, even though it is only bread with water to drink!” The meal was over soon, and Elijah, the mother and the boy finished with a song of Thanksgiving. Then Elijah invited the Professor, Shane, and Shelly to stay and have supper with them also.
When they were outside by themselves Shane said, “How can they ask us to stay for supper? They used almost all the flour and olive oil to fix lunch. There isn’t enough to make another meal.” Shelly answered, “We need to help them! Let’s spend the afternoon getting more food, and then we can really surprise them at suppertime.” They went down the street to the village store to buy food. When they went into the store, the Professor tripped and fell into a rack of winter coats. The rack of coats hit a pile of basketballs, the basketballs bounced on the toasters, the toasters popped into the fans, the fans hit the swim suits, the swim suits hit the shopping carts, and the shopping carts hit the cash registers! Everything fell to the floor with a stupendous crash and caused a cloud of dust that was so thick that nobody could see through it! The Professor said, “Ooops!” The store manager came running, and after the dust had settled, he helped the Professor up, and asked if he was ok. The Professor said that he wanted to buy some food. The store managers replied, “We have no food in the store! There hasn’t been rain for so long that no one has been able to buy food!”
The Professor Shane and Shelly left the store. As they were going down the street, Shane yelled, “Look, there is a McDonalds! They will have food!” So, they went into McDonalds, but the menu was different than what they were used to. This McDonalds sold; Dust Burgers, French Fried Dust, McDust Nuggets, ¼ Pounder with Dust. The drink menu listed; Mountain Dust, Raspberry Iced Dust, Pepsidust, Diet Pepsidust, and Root Dust! Shane ordered 12 Dust Bergers, French Fried Dust, and 5 Mountain Dust drinks. When the order came it was just a big bag of dust! Shane asked, “Where is the food? All I see in this bag is dust!” The waitress said, “We don’t have any food, all we have is dust. That will be $10.52 please.” After the Professor paid for the bag of dust, they went outside again, carrying their bag of dust. They decided to sit down and think for a few minutes, and of course the Professor managed to sit on the bag of dust! The bag exploded with a loud bang and dust went everywhere! The Professor said, “Ooops!” Shane said, “You just ruined our lunch!” Shelly answered, “It was just a bag of dust, we couldn’t have eaten it anyway, besides, we don’t have any ketchup!”
Shelly had an idea! She said, “Let’s go to a farm, they always have food that they have grown, maybe we can buy some!” So, they walked out of town to a farm. There was a large sign in front that said: Farmer’s Market Today! Buy Fresh Home-Grown Dust and homemade pies! Shelly said, “See I knew we could get food here, let’s buy a bunch of pies!” Shelly went up to the Farmer and ordered 26 pies, but when the farmer brought out the box of pies, there was water dripping out the bottom of the box! Shelley looked inside, and all the pies were mud pies! She said, “Where are the blueberry and pumpkins pies?” The farmer said, “There has been no rain, so all we have is dust, so we added water and made mud pies. That will be $42.64 please. The Professor paid for the pies, and they carried their box of mud pies back towards the village. As they were on their way, the Professor tripped on a rock and fell right on top of the box of mud pies! Mud came squirting out the sides of the box and landed all over Shane and Shelly! The Professor said, “Ooops!”
When they arrived back at the house, they could not believe their eyes! Elijah, the mother, and the boy were happy! They were getting ready to cook the meal for supper! The mother opened the container of flour and took out almost all of it, and then she opened the jar of olive oil and used almost all of it and made a loaf of bread! They were jumping up and down for joy and yelling thanks to God! Shane asked, “Where did you get more flour and olive oil, you used almost all of it for lunch!” Elijah explained and said, “I am a prophet of God, and God told me that this woman’s container of flour and jar of olive oil wouldn’t ever be used up until after it rains and we can get other food. God is so good! He keeps making more flour and more olive oil appear for every meal, it is never used up. We are so thankful!”
The Professor, Shane and Shelly learned about being truly thankful, and they also learned that God will always keep his promises and take care of them!
After the evening meal Shelly said, “Now that Thanksgiving is over, it is almost time for Christmas! Let’s get on the bicycle and see if we can get home for Christmas!” They all got on the bicycle/time machine, Shelly turned the crank on the side, then they all began pedaling. As they went faster and faster, the dust billowed up around them so that they could hardly breathe. Shane yelled, “Hold your breath and keep pedaling, we are almost going fast enough! The Professor shifted the bicycle/time machine into high gear!
Then it happened… The bicycle began bouncing like a toad in a washing machine! There was a blinding flash of light and a loud noise like a turtle singing! Suddenly the cloud of dust disappeared and….
Application:
- Read the story of Elijah, the woman, and the boy. It is found in the Bible in the book of I Kings chapter 17 verses 7-16.
- God is so good to us and supplies our needs. If you think about it, God supplies every good thing that we have in this life. In your Bible, find the book of James chapter 1 verse 17 says, “Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.”
- Make a list of the good things that God has given you, write it down! Elijah, the woman and the boy were thankful for bread and water, but we have so much more to be thankful for.
- In the Bible in the book of I Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 16-17 says, “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”
- Take the list you made and spend some time this Thanksgiving Day giving thanks to God for the good things He has brought into your life.