Leapfrog, Toenail and Trixie had to go to the Mississippi River to try to find the candy-flavored pop factory. Leapfrog said, “Before we go, we need to take some time and gather supplies that we might need on this awesome, spectacular, out-of-this-world, and fun adventure. The others agreed with him. In the woods by the lake there was an old, empty, abandoned, red and orange cabin. Toenail said, “Let’s gather supplies and put them in that old cabin until we are ready to go!
Leapfrog exclaimed, “Toenail, look out! What if the shoelace on your jogging shoes gets untied?” Toenail began to shake with extreme fright! He said, “If my shoelace was untied, I might fall and sprain my hair. I might start crying, and if I was crying, I would not be able to see if a big yellow bird from Sesame Street came and licked Trixie!”
“Trixie began crying and said, “If a big yellow bird from Sesame Street licked me, I might catch bird fever. Then I would think I was a bird and make a nest in the top of a tree! I might think that Leapfrog was one of my baby birds and put him in the nest and sit on him!”
Leapfrog sneezed 14 times and screeched with fear and said, “If you thought I was a baby bird, you might push me out of the nest to see if I could fly! I would fall and smash into the ground with terrific force and maybe that would cause an earthquake!”
Toenail jumped up and down and turned green because he was so scared! He said, “The earthquake might hit a giant field of sunflowers and throw the flowers a mile high into the air! All the sunflower seeds might come out of the flowers and fall onto me and bury me alive! Then the big yellow bird from Sesame Street and Trixie (who thinks she is a bird) will come and start eating all the sunflower seeds. But Trixie has teeth, and she might end up biting me on the nose! My nose might swell up as big as a hot-air balloon, and I might start to float away! My untied shoelace might get tangled in the top branches of a big tree and pull it right out of the ground. The shoelace might break, and the tree would fall and land right on Leapfrog’s elbow!
Leapfrog began crying even louder and said, “If that tree landed on my elbow, I might yell, ‘Help me! Help me! I hurt my knee!’. Then Trixie might say, ‘What do you think I am, a canoe?’ Toenail might start laughing, and if he laughed hard, his nose might deflate, and he might come crashing down into the lake!”
Toenail screamed and jumped up and down, and flapped his arms like a crazy mosquito. He said, “If I came crashing down into the lake, I might land on a fish! The fish might be hungry and try to bite me! I might get mad and bite the fish back. If I bite the fish, the fish might get scared and swim away and never get caught, then someone would never be able to put him into a fish taco, and that person might starve. If that person starves, that person might never invent eyeglasses for giraffes! Then a nearsighted giraffe could not have glasses, and when he was eating leaves off the top of a tree, he might eat Trixie’s nest by mistake!”
Trixie cried until her toes turned yellow and said, “If my nest gets eaten, then I would not have a place to live, and I would have to move in with an alligator. The alligator might be allergic to me and sneeze so hard that he creates a tidal wave, and the tidal wave might sink an aircraft carrier!”
Leapfrog started to hiccup and said, “If the aircraft carrier sinks, then the seagulls would not be able to land on it! A mad seagull might go to Washington D.C. and take over the government and double the price of candy!”
“Toenail said, “If the price of candy doubles, then no kids will be able to afford candy, then they will not get cavities, and the dentists will not be able to fix their teeth. If the dentists cannot fix teeth, they might get mad and drop all their sharp dental instruments on the ground. One of the sharp dental instruments might poke a hole in the ground, and that hole might become a raging volcano!”
Trixie was so scared that she hid behind herself and said, “If we have a raging volcano, then it might explode and blow up the whole country and then we could never find the candy-flavored pop factory because it would be blown up! If the pop factory gets blown up, then the pop will get burned and it will not taste right! If the candy-flavored pop does not taste right, then international bus races might be won by a tricycle. If a tricycle wins the international bus races, I might be tempted to steal that tricycle, and then I would end up in jail.”
Leapfrog said, “If Trixie goes to jail, then I would go to visit her, and I might get confused and lock myself up in jail with her.”
Toenail said, “If both of you end up in jail, then the Big Yellow Bird from Sesame Street might teach me the alphabet, then I would be too smart! I might go home and start my own college and forget about the two of you! Then I would become rich, and I might spend all my money and buy popcorn. I might eat all the popcorn and get the world’s worst stomach ache! Then I might marry a nurse and we might have 26 children who all have bad stomach aches! Oh, I hope my shoelace doesn’t become untied, because then all these bad things might happen!”
Just then Trixie happened to look at Toenail’s shoes and said, “Uh, Toenail, you don’t even have shoelaces, your shoes have Velcro straps on them!”
Application:
In the Bible in Matthew 6:25-34 Jesus says:
That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life – whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to Him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, He will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
God tells us not to worry! Leapfrog, Toenail and Trixie started to worry about an untied shoelace, and they imagined all kinds of bad thing that might happen, but none of those things happened!
It is so easy to start worrying about all kinds of bad things that might happen, and most of the time none of those things happen! Even when something bad does happen, worrying about it will not make it any better
The Bible verses above tell us not to worry about having enough things (specifically food, drink & clothing), God will supply the things that we need for this life. A lesson can be learned from nature, God takes care of all the plants and animals, and He can take care of us also!
We are worth a lot more to God than the animals and plants!
God says to seek Him and live in the way that pleases Him (seeking His righteousness), and He will take care of the other details in our life!