The bright pink tractor was spinning around and around, and smoke and steam surrounded it. A pizza came out of the smokestack! When the smoke and steam cleared away, M&M and Gummy Bear saw that they were still with Joseph.
Joseph was standing next to a huge building that was filled with corn! There was so much corn that the building was filled up to the roof, and corn spilled out of the door and windows! Joseph said, “God has been faithful and true! We have had seven years of so much blessing! Everything went well, and we grew so much corn! Now the seven years of famine, promised by God, are starting.”
It was true, the famine had started, but Joseph had many huge buildings filled with corn! There was enough corn so that they would have food to eat all through the famine!
After looking at all that corn, M&M and Gummy Bear were hungry. Gummy Bear said, “Remember that pizza that came out of the smokestack of the tractor? I am hungry for pizza! Can we make a pizza out of corn?”
M&M got busy! He ground up some corn and made it into dough and made a pizza crust from the dough. He added water to corn and let it soak until it was mushy, then he beat it with a spoon until it became corn sauce. He put the corn sauce on top of the corn crust, and then added corn as a topping to the pizza.
M&M made six corn pizzas and backed them over a campfire! They immediately ate four of the pizzas! They were crunchy and they tasted just like…corn!
A little later, Joseph happened to walk by. He could not see or hear the pink tractor, M&M, or Gummy Bear, but he could see the last two corn pizzas sitting beside a campfire. Joesph picked up a corn pizza and ate it, and…he liked it! Joseph immediately had all the bakers in Egypt begin to make corn pizzas. Corn pizza became the favorite in all of Egypt!
The famine was also in the country where Joseph’s family lived. They ran out of food and got very hungry! Ten of Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to buy food, but they did not recognize Joseph because he looked like an Egyptian now! Joseph knew his brothers, but he did not tell them who he was. He asked about their family and found out that his father was still alive and also that his younger brother was still alive but did not come to Egypt with the other ten brothers. Joseph told them that the next time they came to buy food, they needed to bring their other brother with them. If they did not bring the other brother with them, then he would not sell them any more corn! Joseph also kept one of the brothers in Egypt in jail! The brothers thought this was very strange behavior, but there was nothing they could do about it, so they ate some corn pizza and left for home.
When they camped that night, they opened one of the bags of corn so that they could make corn pizzas, and they could not believe what they saw! The money that they gave to Joseph to pay for the corn was in the bag! They did not know what to think!
After a while, the brothers and their father ran out of corn, so the brothers had to go back to Egypt to buy more corn. This time all eleven of Joesph’s brothers went to Egypt. Joseph invited all his brothers to his house for a meal, and he served them many corn pizzas! After the meal, Joseph told his brothers that he was their brother Joseph. The other brothers were terrified! They thought that Joseph was going to have them all killed because they had sold him as a slave!
Joseph told them not to be afraid. Even though they had been extremely mean and hateful to Joseph, Joseph said that he forgave them. He told them that God had a plan! God’s plan was that Joseph should come to Egypt and be put in charge of Egypt so that he could save them from starving during the famine. Joseph’s brothers meant to harm Joseph, but God planned to bless Joseph and to use Joseph to save all of them! Joseph told his brothers to go back to their home, bring their father and move to Egypt to live with Joseph!
Gummy Bear wanted to take a bunch of corn pizzas with them on the tractor so that they would have plenty of food to eat. As Gummy Bear got onto the bright pink tractor, he dropped the corn pizzas, and they landed right on 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 Joseph is found in the Bible in Genesis chapters 41 – 45.
We can learn two things from this story:
- We should not worry about getting even or taking revenge against people who do wrong to us. Joseph had the power to punish his brothers or even kill them, but instead he forgave them. Joseph decided to let God work in their hearts and deal with their sins.
In the Bible in Romans 12:19-21 it says:
Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.
- God has a plan! Many times, we cannot see what God is up to, but He has a good plan, and He will make it happen! Joseph could not see or understand God’s plan when he was sold as a slave or when he was in jail, but at the end of the story God’s plan made sense to him, and it was the best plan.
In the Bible in Genesis 45:4-8a Joseph says:
“Please, come closer,” he said to them. So they came closer. And he said again, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt. But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives. This famine that has ravaged the land for two years will last five more years, and there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors. So it was God who sent me here, not you!”
In the Bible in Jeremiah 29:11 God reminds us:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
God always has a good plan! It might be difficult for a time, but in the end God’s plan is the best! He loves us!