As Haley and Joe finished their talk about temptations, Haley was starting to get sleepy. Since she had fallen into the puddle in the driveway, she had taken a hot shower, drank hot chocolate and had a warm meal. Now she was wearing warm clothes and was wrapped up in a warm blanket. She was starting to drift off to sleep when suddenly she heard that noise again! It was the coyote howling in the Medford Forest! Haley was instantly wide awake, and Joe whispered, “I think I will open the window just a little so that we can hear better, and I will turn off the light and raise the window shade so we can see out into the night. Joe did this and soon they heard the coyote howling again, but the howling was coming from a different place in the forest now. They heard the sound of something running through the bushes! Haley whispered to Joe, “Is that the deer running the forest? It sounds so close! Do you think we will see them?” Joe answered, “You are right, it probably is the sound of the deer running, but sound travels a long way on a still night like this, they are probably not close to us.” Haley said, “I hope the deer come close to us, I want to see them!” Joe and Haley waited for about 20 minutes. Sometimes they heard faint sounds from the forest and then it would be quiet for a while until they heard the sound of deer running again. Haley found herself shivering! She was not shivering from the cold, but from the excitement and the suspense!
Just as Haley was starting to yawn again, it happened! Suddenly three deer burst out of the forest and ran with graceful speed across the field! The deer were moving very fast, but they looked like they were running effortlessly. Behind them a coyote was running, he was going fast too, but he was not graceful, and he certainly was not running effortlessly! In fact the coyote was looking very tired! Partway across the field there a dip in the ground that was about four feet deep, and it was full of drifted snow! The three deer came to the edge of the dip and without slowing down all three of them jumped across the dip and kept going! The coyote could not jump that far, so he tried to run through the dip. The snow was deeper than his head! He thrashed around in the snow trying to get out! When the coyote finally got out of the ditch, he knew that the deer had escaped, so he turned wearily around and went back into the forest to find something else to eat.
The deer stopped by the road and watched the coyote go back into the forest. In the still night air Joe and Haley could hear the three deer panting after their long run. Soon the deer carefully came up the driveway and stopped at the big puddle in the middle of the driveway. Haley whispered to Joe, “I wish I could warn them about that puddle, it is slippery if you step into it! I hope they do not fall and get hurt!” Joe started laughing and put his hand over his mouth so that he did not laugh out loud and scare the deer. He whispered to Haley, “You do not have to worry about the deer falling into the puddle, they are not as clumsy as you are!” While one deer kept watch, the other two deer stepped up to the puddle and took a long drink of water. When they were finished, they kept watch while the other deer took a long drink. After the deer had satisfied their thirst, they calmly walked past the farm house and went back across the field and back into the forest to find a sheltered spot to spend the night.
After they deer were gone Joe said, “That reminds of a Bible verse, in Psalms 42:1 it says, ‘As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God.’” We should long to be close to God just like those deer longed for a drink of cold water. The longer I’ve been a Christian the more I realize how much I need God! I want to be close to God all the time, and I long for the day when I get to heaven and can be with God forever!”
Haley answered, “In Kid’s Club last Wednesday we learned about a Bible story where a man longed for Jesus more than anything else. In the story Jesus was coming into a city. There was a blind man there who had heard about Jesus and knew that Jesus was the Son of God. The man believed that Jesus could heal his eyes, so he yelled to Jesus to get his attention. All the people around the blind man told him to be quiet, not to bother Jesus. But the blind man would not listen to the people, he longed for Jesus to help him, and he would not keep quiet! The blind man yelled louder and louder, the people still tried to get his to be quiet, but he would not! Jesus heard the man and came over to him and healed him! The man got up and followed Jesus and told everyone what Jesus had done for him!” Joe said, “That is a great Bible story, I hope we always long for Jesus so much that we will not let anything stop us from letting Jesus fill our life and satisfy us! Now it’s time for bed!”
Application:
Imagine that it is the middle of winter during a long and difficult year of school. You find yourself longing for warm weather and summer vacation! Our life on this earth is kind of like that, we long for something better and cannot wait to get there. We know from the Bible that this longing for a better place and better times is really a longing to be home in heaven with Jesus for eternity.
In the Bible in Psalms 42:1,2 it says:
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
In heaven there will be no more pain, suffering, crying, sadness, or death. But the greatest thing will be that we will see Jesus face-to-face and know Him like a friend! In fact, He will be our best friend!
In the Bible in I Corinthians 13:12-13 it says:
Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever – faith, hope, and love – and the greatest of these is love.
In I John 3:2-3 it says:
Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but He has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as He is pure.
Do not be discouraged, if you are a Christian, the best is yet to come! We will be going home!