The next morning Haley woke up and she determined that she would not sin today! She knew that it was going to be hard, but she was going to do it!
At breakfast Joe told Haley that she needed to water the garden right away because the young plants were wilted and they needed a drink. Joe told her to be sure to turn off the hose when she was finished. Haley told Joe that he could depend on her, she would water the garden right away and make sure she turned off the hose when she was finished. Haley told Joe that she was going to try very hard to not sin that day!
After breakfast, Haley went to the hose, unwound it, and turned it on. Unfortunately, she had left the nozzle turned on last time she used the hose, so when the water filled the hose, it sprayed Haley! By the time Haley had turned off the water, she was soaking wet! She wanted to go into the house and put on dry clothes, but then she might forget to water the garden. So, Haley stayed in her soaking wet clothes and unwound the hose and began to water the garden. Haley did a very good job of watering the garden; she used a gentle spray so that she would not injure the young plants, and she was very careful to water every part of the garden. Haley kept watering the garden until the whole garden was muddy. She was so proud of herself, she had obeyed her dad and done a very good job of watering the garden.
Haley wound the hose up, and she bent down and started to turn the handle to turn the water off. Just then she heard a noise! It was the mailman coming down the road! Haley was expecting a package, so she was very excited to see the mailman! She started to run to the mailbox. She did not want to take time to go around the garden, so she went straight across the garden. She forgot that the ground was wet and muddy, and she slipped in the mud and fell! She was going so fast that she slid in the mud about 10 feet! Mud went into her clothes, mud went onto her face, mud went into her hair, and she ran over their biggest tomato plant and pulled in right out of the ground! A little thing like this did not slow down Haley, she wanted to meet the mailman! She jumped up and kept running! The mailman was new on the route, and no one had warned him about how clumsy Haley could be. He saw some kind of creature running towards his mail truck! The creature was covered in mud, was yelling at him, and had a big tomato plant coming out of its shirt!
The mailman screamed and yelled, “Help! A mud-covered tomato plant monster is coming!” The mailman tried to drive away as fast as possible! Unfortunately, he lost control of his mail truck and went into the ditch! He was not going to let a ditch stop him, he did not want the monster to catch him! So, he went as fast as he could and came bouncing up out of the ditch and back onto the road! Letters and packages were flying everywhere! Haley stopped running and wondered why the mailman was acting so strange!
Haley walked slowly up the driveway, dripping mud the whole way. Joe saw her coming and decided that she was not going to come into the house and drip mud all over the house. He was going to meet her at the hose and wash the mud off her! Joe got his crutches and went as fast as he could to the hose. He accidentally put one of his crutches on top of the hose nozzle. Since Haley had run to the mailbox before she finished turning off the hose, the water was still on! The water began spraying all over Joe! The hose got tangled in his feet and he fell! He could not reach the nozzle to turn off the water, and cold water was soaking him!
Haley saw what was happening and she ran quickly to rescue Joe. She slipped on the wet grass and fell on top of Joe! Now Joe was wet and covered with Haley’s mud! Joe was not happy! Eventually they got the water turned off and Haley helped Joe get up. Joe looked mad, but he did not say a word, he just slowly and carefully started back to the house.
Haley knew she was in trouble, and she wanted to do something nice for Joe. She noticed that part of the lawn needed mowing, and she thought that it would surprise Joe if she mowed the lawn without him telling her to mow it. So, Haley got out the lawn mower and began to mow. She was still soaking wet and covered with mud, and now the wind was blowing grass clippings onto her! She was a mess! She was wet, covered with mud and covered with grass!
Haley finished mowing the lawn, put the lawn mower away and washed herself off with the hose. Then she sat in the sun until she dried off.
That evening at supper Joe was still very quiet. After they had finished eating Joe said, “We need to talk about what happened today. Even though you tried to not sin today, you did end up sinning. You did water the garden nicely, but you did not turn off the hose when you were done.” Haley interrupted and said, “I did turn off the hose just before I ran out to see the mailman.” Joe said, “I heard the mailman coming and looked out the window, I saw the whole thing. You started to turn off the water, but you got distracted and did not finish turning off the water. You did not complete the job I gave you, and now you just lied about it.” Haley started to cry and said, “I did not mean to sin, I forgot that I did not finish turning off the water, and so I told a lie without meaning to. I am so sorry!”
Joe opened his Bible to Isaiah 64:6 where it says:
We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds they are nothing but filthy rags.
Also, Joe read Romans 3:23-25 in the Bible which says:
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood.
Joe explained that all people struggle with sin. We cannot stop sinning completely because each of us has a sin nature that will always be with us while we are in this world. God knows that we struggle with sin, and the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was enough to pay for all our sins. Of course we should do our best not to sin, but sin will happen in our lives while we are in this world. All sin has consequences, and some of the consequences can be quite severe.
Haley asked Joe if there would be consequences for her sins that day, and Joe told her that there would be. However, he was not going to tell her the consequences for another 24 hours because Joe was still upset with Haley and while he was upset, he might not be fair to her. Haley did not like the idea of waiting another whole day to find out the consequences, but she understood that Joe did love her and that he wanted to be fair to her.