The bright pink tractor was spinning around and around, and smoke and steam surrounded it. Music came out of the smokestack! When the smoke and steam cleared away, M&M and Gummy Bear saw that they were at a campsite at the bottom of a mountain. Gummy Bear listened to the music coming from the bright pink tractor’s smokestack and said, “I know that song! It’s called Father Abraham! Let’s sing it, ‘Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham…’”
M&M interrupted him and said, “Be quiet! Look, there are 4 people camping here, let’s see who they are.” M&M and Gummy Bear walked over to the campsite, and of course they tripped and fell 14 times during that short walk. It’s a good thing that they are invisible and cannot be seen or heard!
One of the men around the campfire said, “Master Abraham, why are we camping out here in the middle of nowhere?”
Gummy Bear got all excited and said, “Abraham is here! Maybe he wants to sing the song!”
M&M said, “Be quiet and listen!
Abraham replied, “God told me to take my one very special son Isaac and to go to a special mountain and make a sacrifice to God. So, here we are, God has shown this mountain to me, and tomorrow morning my special son Isaac and I will go up the mountain to make the sacrifice. You two servants can wait down here until we get back.”
The servants said, “Cool, we get to sleep late tomorrow!”
Early the next morning, Abraham and Isaac got up and of course Gummy Bear and M&M got up too because they wanted to see what would happen. Abraham gathered a huge pile of firewood and tied it into a bundle, and then he called Isaac over and said, “You get to carry the firewood.”
Gummy Bear said, “How is he going to carry all that wood without dropping it. If we had duct tape, we could tape that wood to him!”
M&M said, “Don’t be so silly. Duct tape was not invented back in Abraham’s time!” Eventually Abraham solved the firewood problem by tying the wood to Isaac’s back. Abraham picked up a pot that had some hot coals from the campfire in it, and then he picked up a knife. As they were about to leave, Isaac said, “Uh Dad, you forgot something, you did not bring any sheep for the sacrifice. The only animal that we brought was the donkey. Are we going to sacrifice the donkey? That would be totally weird!”
Abraham said, “I am not weird! I am perfectly normal! I did not forget to bring a sacrifice; God did not tell me to bring a sheep for the sacrifice.”
Isaac shook his head and said, “Dad, you’re losing it!”
Abraham and Isaac began to climb up the mountain, it was a long way up and it took them all morning to get to the top. Gummy Bear and M&M followed them, but just before they got to the top, Gummy Bear tripped over a tree root and fell. He began to slide down the mountain! M&M saw what was happening and yelled, “Do not worry Gummy Bear, I will save you!” M&M quickly jumped on top of Gummy Bear to stop him from sliding down the mountain. The only problem was that with M&M on top of him, Gummy Bear just started to slide faster. So, M&M went sledding down the mountain using Gummy Bear as a sled.
At the bottom of the mountain, they realized that they were going to miss what Abraham and Isaac were doing on top of the mountain, so they began to run up the mountain again as fast as they could. They ran fast and made it back up to the top of the mountain when it happened again. Yes, that’s right Gummy Bear tripped again over the same tree root. This time M&M was ready and grabbed Gummy Bear before he could start sliding and threw him into a bush. The bush had thorns and prickers and Gummy Bear was stuck in that bush, the more he struggled to get out, the more he got tangled up in the bush. Gummy Bear yelled, “M&M help me, get me out of here!” M&M said, “Be quiet! I want to see what Abraham and Isaac are doing!”
Abraham was taking off his belt and he told Isaac to turn around. Isaac yelled, “Dad, what are you doing?” Abraham used the belt to tie Isaac’s hands and feet together. Abraham then gathered some stones and built an alter to God, he put the wood on it and then picked up Isaac and put him on top of the wood.
Isaac started screaming, “Dad what are you doing? Why am I tied up and on top of the alter? Have you lost your mind?”
Abraham said, “God told me to offer you as the sacrifice. I do not understand why, but I know that God loves me, and I am going to obey Him. I know that God can bring you back to life!”
Abraham picked up the knife and was about to kill his special son…. when suddenly there was the voice of an angel from heaven saying, “Abraham, Abraham do not hurt the boy! Now I know how much you love God because you were willing to sacrifice your special son! God has supplied another sacrifice for you to use. Look over there in the bushes!”
Gummy Bear said, “Hey, I am in the bushes, do not use me as a sacrifice! Why are you picking on me?” But Abraham did not even look in Gummy Bear’s direction, instead he looked at the bushes on the other side of the clearing and there was a male sheep caught in the bushes by his horns. Abraham untied Isaac and took him off the alter, and then they got the male sheep and used that as the sacrifice.
Later it was time to go back down the mountain. Abraham and Isaac walked down the mountain together, they loved God and loved each other more now than they ever had before. M&M and Gummy Bear started to follow Abraham and Isaac down the mountain, but Gummy Bear tripped on that same tree root and began sliding down the mountain again. M&M thought to himself, ‘Shall I try to stop him, or should I just jump on and enjoy another sled ride?’ The sled ride sounded like fun, so M&M jumped on his Gummy Bear sled, and they went down the mountain even faster than before. When they reached the bottom of the mountain, they hit a bump and went flying into the air. They landed on top of the bright red button on the bright pink tractor.
There was a noise like a strong wind, the bright pink tractor began spinning in circles, smoke and steam surrounded them and….
What Gummy Bear, M&M and you can learn from this story:
The story of Abraham, Isaac and the sacrifice on the mountain is found in the Bible in Genesis 22:1-19.
This story is about sacrifice. In the Old Testament times in the Bible (before Jesus was born as a baby, and before He died to pay for our sins), people made sacrifices to show God that they were sorry for their sins, and to ask for forgiveness. An animal was always used for the sacrifice. In the story today, God told Abraham to do something very unusual, He told Abraham to sacrifice his son on an altar. It did not make any sense, but Abraham trusted God and he began to sacrifice his son Isaac. God stopped him at the last possible moment and provided a sheep for the sacrifice.
God was trying to teach us something! God will always provide a way for us to be forgiven. In this Bible story, God provided a sheep, but ultimately God provided His Son Jesus to die on a cross to pay for all our sins.
In the Bible in Romans 5:8 it says:
But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Jesus paid the price for your sins, but you need to come to Him, pray, and ask to be forgiven. If you have never done this, please consider turning to Jesus today!