Haley woke up and felt awful! She had not slept well because she was worried about the consequences for her sins that she had done the day before. She had not kept her promise to turn off the water in the garden hose when she was done watering the garden, she had destroyed part of the garden, and Joe had fallen and got hurt because she had left the water turned on. She knew she deserved punishment, but since Joe was Haley’s dad, he did not want to punish her while he was still angry, but he wanted to be fair to her because he loved her!
Joe was very stiff and sore when he came to the kitchen for breakfast. Haley told him to sit down and rest, and she would fix all the food and do all the dishes. Haley decided to fix scrambled eggs for breakfast. She got out the skillet and set it on the table, she got the eggs and orange juice out of the refrigerator, and she turned on the stove. Haley began cracking eggs as fast as she could and emptying them over the burner on the stove, where the skillet should have been. Haley had forgotten to put the skillet on the stove; it was still sitting on the table! So, the eggs fell onto the lighted burner on the stove! Haley noticed the bad smell of burning eggs and saw a lot of smoke coming from the stove! Thinking quickly, Haley grabbed the orange juice and dumped it onto the stove. Joe told Haley to turn off the burner. It was a mess!
Haley and Joe had cold cereal for breakfast, and after breakfast Haley spent a lot of time cleaning off the stove, and everything around the stove! Haley then started to wash the dishes. She turned on the water and added the dish soap. While she was waiting for the sink to fill up, Haley decided to call her best friend. Haley forgot all about the dishwater, and soon the sink was overflowing onto the floor! Now Haley had to mop the floor before she could do the dishes.
Joe fixed some sandwiches for lunch and then said that he needed to go into town that afternoon; he had to visit his doctor, and he had to stop at the store to buy a few things. Haley did not know why her dad had to go to the doctor; she hoped that he was not sick. Just before suppertime Joe returned. Haley could not believe her eyes! Joe had new crutches! Joe explained that when he had fallen yesterday, one of his crutches had started to break. It was no longer safe to use, so Joe had to get new crutches. Haley felt bad that she had been the reason that Joe fell and broke his crutches.
Joe then showed Haley the things that he had bought at the store. He had bought several new tomato plants and a lot of fence post and wire fencing.
After supper Joe told Haley that he had decided on the consequences for her disobedience and other sins yesterday. She was going to have to replant the tomato plants that she had destroyed when she fell and slid through the tomato patch, and she was going to have to put a fence all the way around the garden. Haley asked if the fence was to keep out wild animals. Joe said that yes, the fence would help to keep out wild animals, but it would also keep Haley from taking a shortcut through the garden! The other part of Haley’s punishment was that she now had to pull the weeds out of the garden by herself for the rest of the summer.
Haley did not like these consequences, but she realized that they were fair and that she deserved her punishment. Then Haley said to Joe, “The new crutches you had to buy, the tomato plants, and the fencing materials all cost you money! I’m the one who did wrong, but you are the one who had to go out and pay for all these things. That is not fair to you!”
Joe agreed and he said, “It is true that I had to pay for those things, and you were the one who caused the problems, but I paid for those things because I love you! This reminds me of a verse in the Bible found in John 3:16-17, where Jesus says:
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.”
“Humans are the ones who have sinned against God, it is our fault, not God’s fault. But because God loves us so much, He gave His most precious possession, His Son. Jesus had to come to earth, die on the cross, and rise from the dead to pay the consequences of our sins. Only by believing in Jesus and accepting Him into our life can we have our sins forgiven.”