One morning Joe had surprises for the kids at Nature Camp. He met the bus when it came into their driveway, and he had a red wagon. He told the kids that today he had two surprises for the kids. The first surprise is that they were going to go exploring and bring back in the wagon the most unusual thing that they could find in the forest. When they got back, Joe would tell them about the second surprise! Haley volunteered to pull the wagon and her pet raccoon, Daniel, got in the wagon. He wanted a ride!
The kids and Haley started down a trail that they had not gone down before; they were looking on every side for unusual things. They saw unusual rocks, unusual trees, unusual mushrooms & toadstools, unusual leaves, unusual berries, unusual pieces of dead wood, unusual insects, and unusual animals. The kids were having an argument about how they would know what was most unusual, and how they would get it into the wagon if it was big.
Haley took charge and told the kids that they would not pick up anything yet. They would walk all the way to the end of the trail and look for all the unusual things they could find. When they got to the end of the trail, they would all decide what was the most unusual thing and pick it up on the way back to the farm. This was a good idea and all the kids agreed that this was what they were going to do.
They continued on the trail and saw many unusual things in the forest, it would be a hard job to figure out what was the most unusual thing! They were almost to the end of the trail when the trail went up a steep hill, and then it happened! Haley was pulling hard to get the wagon, with Daniel in it, up that hill. She had her head down and was breathing hard when she got to the top. Suddenly she heard a loud noise in front of her and looked up! About 20 feet in front of her some tall bushes swayed and got pushed apart, and a large grey animal came out of the bushes! It was an elephant! There should not be elephants in a forest in this part of the world! Haley screamed and tried to go backwards! She bumped into the wagon she was pulling and fell backwards into the wagon right on top of Daniel! Daniel uttered a scream of rage and used his sharp claws to try to get Haley off him! Haley screamed again when Daniel scratched her and sat up in the wagon, and Daniel scrambled out from underneath her!
The elephant was scared by Haley’s screams and began trumpeting! He saw the trail and began running down the trail! As the elephant ran past the wagon, one of its legs bumped the wagon and the wagon began rolling down the steep hill!
The rest of the children saw the elephant coming and they dove into bushes beside the trail! The elephant thundered past the children, and then the wagon with Daniel and a screaming Haley rolled and bounced past them! The children realized that the elephant was running toward the farm and that Joe would be waiting for them at the end of the trail! They knew that Joe would not be able to get out of the elephant’s way because he could not move very fast on his crutches. The children ran down the path and yelled as loud as they could, warning Joe that an elephant was coming! At the bottom of the hill the wagon bumped over a big rock and threw Haley and Daniel through the air! Fortunately, they landed on soft grass and were not hurt. The other children raced past Haley and Daniel because they knew they had to try to warn Joe!
Meanwhile, back at the farm, Joe had some visitors. Two men drove up the driveway and got out of their car. They said they were from the circus that was visiting the nearby town and that their elephant had escaped! They thought the elephant was in the woods close to Joe’s farm. Joe was alarmed! He told the men from the circus that there was a group of children in the woods, and if they were in danger he needed to go and warn them immediately and get them to safety!
Just then they heard the elephant trumpeting in the distance and they heard the children yelling and screaming! The noise was getting closer and soon they could hear the elephant running through the woods and breaking bushes and small tree as he ran over them!
The elephant burst out of the forest and was running straight toward Joe and the two men from the circus! One of the men walked toward the elephant and began talking calmly to it. The elephant slowed down and stopped trumpeting, and the man was able to walk up to the elephant and pet it. The man was the elephant’s trainer, and the elephant trusted his trainer.
A few minutes later the kids burst out of the forest, still yelling for Joe to take cover! They were surprised to see the elephant calmly drinking water from the old watering trough by the barn. Last of all Haley came out of the forest pulling the wagon. Daniel was still riding in the wagon, and Haley looked very tired and confused! Daniel saw the elephant and jumped out of the wagon and ran up to the elephant and growled at it. The huge elephant looked at the small raccoon and lifted his trunk out of the watering trough and sprayed the furious raccoon with water! Daniel yelped in fright and climbed the nearest tree!
After the men from the circus had taken the elephant away, Joe served the kids lunch and then told them that they could learn something from the elephant and learn a little bit more about God.
The elephant was frightened because it got lost in a country that he was not used to. Elephants belong in jungles, not in a small forest in North America. The elephant was lost and very confused and then had a frightening encounter with Haley, Daniel, and a wagon! The experience was more than the elephant could handle, and he panicked! The elephant was so scared that he ran blindly through the forest, he only wanted to escape!
When the elephant got to the farm, he saw his trainer and heard his trainer’s voice. The elephant trusted his trainer, so he immediately calmed down and felt secure. The elephant still was not in a jungle or in the familiar circus, but he trusted that his trainer would take care of him.
Believers in Jesus experience something very similar. After we have accepted Jesus into our life, and start growing closer to God, we feel lost in this world. This world does not seem like our home anymore and we are not comfortable here a lot of the time. There are times when life in this world is more than we can handle, and we want to scream and run away and escape from this world.
In the Bible in Hebrews 11:13b-16 it talks about the heavenly country that believers are looking forward to reaching at the end of their life on this earth.
They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
When the elephant was frantic and running through the forest, he immediately calmed down when he saw and heard his trainer. In the same way, when believers struggle in this life on earth and they are frantic for comfort and reassurance, the voice and presence of Jesus make all the difference. A believer can experience the voice and presence of Jesus by spending time praying and reading their Bible. Jesus speaks to believers through His Word (the Bible) and brings comfort when they tell Jesus all their worries and cares through prayer.
In the Bible in I Peter 5:7 it says:
Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.
The elephant knew his trainer’s voice and trusted his trainer. In the Bible Jesus compared His followers to sheep and compared Himself to the shepherd. Sheep recognize the shepherd’s voice and follow their shepherd. In the same way believers recognize the voice of Jesus in the Bible and trust Him and follow Him.
In the Bible in John 10:27-30 it says:
My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from Me, for My Father has given them to Me, and He is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.
As always, the kids learned a lot from Joe, and now they knew that no matter how crazy life gets, they have Jesus who is their good shepherd, and they can be calm and trust Him just like the elephant was calm and trusted his trainer.
The kids had one last question; Joe had mentioned a second surprise and they wanted to know what it was. Joe smiled and told them that the second surprise is that all of them were going to the circus that evening! Maybe they would even see an elephant!