Haley burst into the farmhouse and did not even bother to close the door because she was so upset! She screamed at Joe, “That contest in Sunday School was not fair! They must hate me, and I do not ever want to go back to Sunday School!” Haley then turned around and stomped out of the room! Actually it would be more truthful to say that she tried to stomp out of the room. She ran right into the refrigerator so hard that the freezer door came open and a bucket of ice cream tumbled to the floor! Haley bent over and picked up the ice cream, but when she stood up, she hit her head on the freezer door! Haley fell flat on the floor on top of the ice cream with a crash that shook the whole house! A bag of ice cubes broke open and fell on Haley as she lay on the floor! Haley shook the ice cubes off, looked carefully at the freezer door, made sure she was still holding the bucket of ice cream and carefully stood up, and then stepped right onto a pile of the ice cubes! She started sliding across the kitchen floor and she was waving her arms wildly trying to keep her balance! The bucket of ice cream slipped out of her hand and went sailing out the open door and landed in the snowbank beside the porch! Haley kept slipping on more ice cubes and she slid out the door too, and landed face-first in the snowbank right beside the bucket of ice cream!
Joe watched this performance in amazement! When Haley finally came back into the kitchen Joe asked her, “Why don’t you start at the beginning and tell me about this Sunday School Contest that has gotten you so upset.” Haley answered, “In Sunday School today they had a contest, and the prize was a bucket of ice cream! The contest was a quiz about things in the Bible. When it was my turn to answer a question, they asked me, ‘What were the names of Adam and Eve’s first two sons?’ Now how am I supposed to know the answer to that question? I do not remember being taught the names of Adam and Eve’s sons in Sunday School! It’s not fair!”
Joe asked her, “Did any of the other kids in Sunday School know the answer to that question?”
Haley answered, “Yeah, most of the kids knew that Adam and Eve’s first two sons were named Cain and Abel.”
Joe asked, “How do you think the other kids learned that?”
Haley answered, “I suppose they read the story in their Bibles, but I am so busy that I do not have time to read my Bible. They should teach me all those things at Sunday School, or at Wednesday night Kids Club. I should not have to take time to read my Bible. Anyway, I really wanted that prize, I wanted the bucket of ice cream!” Joe laughed and said, “But you do not need a bucket of ice cream, we already have a bucket of ice cream, or at least we did have a bucket of ice cream before you threw it out into the snowbank! Get the ice cream out of the snowbank, put it in the freezer, close the freezer door and clean up all the ice cubes. After lunch we will enjoy having ice cream together!”
The next morning after breakfast Joe said to Haley, “Get dressed warm and put on your snowmobile suit then meet me out in the barn.” Haley got ready as quick as she could and ran to the barn, she got there at the same time as Joe because he had to go slow through the snow and ice on his crutches. Joe picked up a big vinyl bag and gave it to Haley and told her to stuff as much hay into it as she could. Haley had no idea why Joe wanted her to stuff hay into the vinyl bag, but she obeyed him promptly and filled the bag with hay. She stuffed the hay into the bag until she could not get any more hay into the bag, and then she tied it shut. Haley looked around and saw that Joe was on the snowmobile and was ready to go somewhere. Haley strapped the bag of hay onto her back and jumped on the back of the snowmobile. Once again, she forgot to hang on and when they hit the first bump out in the field she went flying. Haley knew it was going to hurt when she hit the ground, but she was surprised! She landed on that big bag of hay, and it did not hurt a bit! She bounced a few times and then she just lay there looking at the clear blue sky while Joe turned the snowmobile around and came back to get her! When Haley got back onto the snowmobile she remembered to hang on, and soon they were zooming through the Black Forest! After a while Joe slowed the snowmobile down and then stopped at the edge of a steep hill. Joe turned off the snowmobile and quietly told Haley to look down into the valley below them. At the far end of the valley there was a herd of deer! All the deer were digging through the snow to get to the dead grass beneath the snow and then they were eating the grass! Joe whispered to Haley, “The deer must dig through the snow during the winter to get dried grass to eat. The hay in the bag is for the deer, I wanted to help feed them!” Joe told Haley to quietly go down into the valley and dump out the hay onto the snow. He warned her not to try to go close to the deer, but to just dump out the hay and then come back up the hill.
Haley took the bag off her back and held it in front of her as she slowly started down the hill. Under the snow there was a branch that Haley could not see, so she tripped on the branch! Haley screamed as she fell onto the bag of hay! The vinyl bag was slippery, and the snow was slippery! Before Haley knew what was happening, she was sledding down that hill on the bag of hay! The hill was steep and the bag of hay went really fast! It was the best sled ride Haley had ever had! They reached the bottom of the hill and were flying across the valley! The deer took off running in every direction! When Haley finally stopped, she heard Joe laughing as hard as he could up at the top of the hill! Joe yelled to Haley, “Don’t worry! Just dump out the hay, the deer will come back to eat it after we have left!”
Later when they were back at the farmhouse having hot chocolate Joe said to Haley, “I want to talk to you about Sunday School. Sunday School is kind of like that bag of hay we took to the deer. We took the hay to the deer to help them and make their life a little easier. In the same way God give us teachers in Sunday School and at Kid’s Club to make it a little easier to learn about the Bible and to get to know God. But the deer would not stay strong and healthy if they only ate that small amount of hay that we took to them. If the deer want to stay strong and healthy they have to work hard and dig through the snow to get to the dried grass. In the same way, if you want to be a strong and healthy Christian, you must dig into the Bible on your own and learn the things God wants you to know. You cannot just depend on the short times of teaching in Sunday School and Kid’s Club! Your teacher knows this, and that is why there were questions in the contest that had not been taught in class. Your teacher is trying to encourage you to read the Bible on your own and get to know it!”
Haley replied, “I understand now! I will take the time to read some of the Bible every day so that I can know it better!”
Application:
In the Bible in 2 Peter 3:18 it says:
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
In the Bible in Psalms 119:11 it says:
I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
If you want to have the best friendship with Jesus, you must get to know Him better! Reading the Bible and praying are the best ways to develop this friendship. You cannot just depend on what you learn at Church once or twice a week, you need to spend time every day with Jesus.