Now that our superheroes were done worrying about what might go wrong, they realized that they need to get back to the job of gathering supplies for their trek to the Mississippi River to find the Candy-Flavored Pop Factory.
Leapfrog said, “Now we have to make sure we only get the essential supplies, we do not want to carry around a lot of things that we will never use!” They all agreed with this statement because they could see that it was filled with unquestionable wisdom that Leapfrog had spent a lifetime acquiring!
At night they would need something soft to sleep on, and the softest thing they could think of was the stuff inside of pillows, but you cannot put a pillow in your pocket. So, Leapfrog and Toenail got a bunch of pillows and hit each other with the pillows until they broke, then they put the pillow stuffing into the cabin.
Trixie decided that they needed to be able to carry the cans of candy-flavored pop easily, so she disguised herself by splashing mud all over herself, then she jumped into a big recycling bin, she got a big pile of paper bags and put them into the cabin.
Toenail thought that they might need gasoline on the trip, so he went to a gas station, got a big cardboard box out of the trash can, filled it with gasoline, and put it into the cabin.
Leapfrog knew that they might need to pretend to be sheep sometime; he decided that if they glued enough cotton balls to themselves that they would look just like sheep. So, he went into the forest and caught a moose, and dragged the moose to a cotton field. The moose start eating the cotton plant (except for the cotton balls). The moose ate until it could not eat anymore, and he piled all the leftover cotton balls neatly into 207 piles. Leapfrog picked up 28,563 cotton balls, and he put them into the cabin.
Trixie did not want to get bored on the trip, and she liked to color in coloring books. She could not find any coloring books, but she did find a huge pile of old newspapers, she could color on those, so she put them into the cabin.
Toenail did not know how to get to the Mississippi River, so he got 105 big maps and put them into the cabin.
Leapfrog thought that they might need to hide sometime. He thought that a haystack would be a good thing to hide in. He went to a hayfield that was on top of a hill, he stuffed hay into his clothes until he was as round as a yard stick, and then he rolled down the hill to the cabin and put the hay into the cabin. He kept doing that over and over until he had three large haystacks in the cabin.
Trixie thought that they might need to see at night. So, she went to the store and got the biggest and best flashlight in the world. Then she went to the candle store and traded the world’s biggest and best flashlight for 368 candles, and she put them into the cabin.
Leapfrog knew that candles would not be any good without matches, so he got 100,000 matches, blindfolded himself, spun around in circles for 5 minutes, and then tossed the matches one at a time down the chimney of the cabin.
Toenail thought that wild humpback whales might chase them. He needed a weapon that would be effective against wild humpback whales, so he thought for a long time and decided that he could throw dry leaves at a wild humpback whale and scare it. So, he went to the edge of the forest and cleared a big area, he moved all the sticks and dried leaves out of the way. Then he dove to the bottom of the lake and brought up handfuls of wet leaves. He spread the wet leaves on the cleared ground and dried them. Then he put the dried leaves into the cabin.
Trixie said, “It might get cold at night, we should get wood to make a campfire. Toenail immediately went into the woods and went up to a big tree and tried to push it over. He was exerting all his superhuman strength against that tree when it happened; his hands slipped, and he smashed his face against the tree! The tree was horrified and scared! The tree began to shake so badly that all its bark fell off. Toenail picked up the bark and put it in the cabin. Then he went to another tree and smashed his face against that one and got some more bark! Meanwhile, Leapfrog and Trixie calmly walked through the woods and picked up dead branches that were laying on the ground and put them into the cabin.
Toenail pointed out that firewood was not any good unless you had fire. Trixie mentioned that they had matches, but that was way too easy for superheroes! Leapfrog said that they should carry fire with them. So, they went to a campground by the lake and snuck up to a family that had a nice campfire burning. Trixie and Leapfrog distracted the family by singing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star while standing on their heads. While the family was watching Trixie and Leapfrog, Toenail took most of their campfire and began running back to the cabin with it! He found out that the fire was hot, but he solved that problem by quickly learning how to juggle a campfire! When he got to the cabin, he threw the fire into the cabin.
When Trixie and Leapfrog also got back to the cabin, they decided to make a list of all the supplies that they had gathered for their great adventure of finding the Candy-Flavored Pop Factory on the Mississippi River. They had:
A big pile of pillow stuffings A pile of paper bags
A big cardboard box of gasoline 28,563 cotton balls
A huge pile of old newspapers 105 big maps
3 large haystacks 368 candles
100,000 matches A lot of dry leaves
A lot of tree bark A lot of firewood
A campfire
Trixie said, “We forgot to get marshmallows to roast on a fire.”
Leapfrog said, “We do not need marshmallows yet, we have not built a fire yet!”
Trixie replied, “Yes, we have. Look, the cabin is on fire!”
Sure enough, the cabin was on fire, and was burning with great energy! Leapfrog and Toenail immediately knew that they should put the fire out, so they ran down to the lake to get water. Trixie called after them, “Be sure to get clean water, we do not want all of our stuff to get dirty!” So, Leapfrog and Toenail went ½ mile down the shore of the lake until they found where a clean spring flowed into the lake. They did not have anything to carry the clean water in, so they each scooped up a handful of water and began running back to the cabin. When they got to the cabin, they each only had about a spoonful of water left, but it was clean! They threw the clean water onto the fire, but it did not seem to make any difference at all! So, they ran back to the lake and got another handful of clean water. After the third trip to the lake, the cabin was burnt completely to the ground, and they had nothing left for their trip to the Mississippi River!
Application:
In the Bible, in Matthew 6:19-21 Jesus says:
Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
In the story today, Leapfrog, Toenail, and Trixie spent a lot of time gathering supplies that were not really important. They spent so much time gathering these things that they did not get any closer to finding the Candy-Flavored Pop factory. Fire destroyed all their things in a few minutes. All the time they spend gathering the things was wasted time!
Many people do the same thing! So much time is spent collecting things that look good for a moment, or feel good for a moment, but all these things can be taken from us in just a moment! So many people reach the end of this life and realize that they have done nothing that really mattered. Their whole life was wasted on things that do not last!
Jesus said that the focus of believers (Christians) should be on the things that do last! Let me be clear; we do not get to heaven by doing good works, we only get eternal life by believing in Jesus and asking Him to forgive us and come into our life. But, after becoming a Christian, God keeps track of the things that we do to serve Him, and when we get to heaven, we will be rewarded for serving God!
Serving God comes in many forms. It can be something that seems big, like being a pastor or missionary, but most often people serve God by doing the little things that might not even be noticed. Showing kindness to others, telling others about Jesus, sharing with others, and praying for others are just a few of the ways that most Christians serve God.
The most important thing is that you decide to ask Jesus to forgive you and come into your life! After that you need to determine that you want to live your life serving God wherever He takes you in life. Then you will be storing up treasures for yourself in heaven, and these treasures will never go away or get old! It is your choice! Choose wisely!