One morning Haley came out of the house and noticed something, the flowers that were growing in the flowerpot by the door were missing! Someone had come during the night and dug up those flowers and stole them! This was terrible! This was the first time anyone had ever come onto their farm and stolen anything! Haley looked around to see if the thief was hiding anywhere, and she called for Joe.
Joe heard Haley and came as quickly as he could. When he came out the door Haley screamed, “Someone came in the night and stole our flowers! What if they come back and steal something else? What if they steal Daniel or Frank? What if they steal from me? I do not feel safe anymore!”
Joe tried to calm down Haley and when she was finally quiet, he said, “No one stole the flowers. If you look closely at the dirt in the flowerpot, you will see the end of the stems going into the dirt. Some animal ate the flowers and ate the plants right down to the dirt.” Haley looked at the dirt in the flowerpot and saw that it was true; some animal had eaten the flowers and the plants. Haley asked, “What kind of an animal would do this? Was it a monster?” Joe laughed and answered, “It was not a monster, it was probably some deer.”
Haley was not afraid anymore, so Joe went back into the house and Haley headed towards the barn to see Frank. Haley opened the door and stepped into the barn…and fell flat on her face! There was a shovel lying on the floor right in front of the door! While Haley was lying on the ground, Frank charged towards the door, ran over Haley, and escaped outside! Haley looked around the barn and could not believe what she saw! The place was a mess! Hay and straw were everywhere, tools were knocked over, and there was water spilled on the floor! Who had done this? Once again Haley yelled for Joe to come quickly to see what had happened.
When Joe arrived at the barn Haley yelled, “Someone broke into the barn! They put a shovel on the floor in front of the door to trip me! They spilled Frank’s food and water! They knocked tools off their hooks on the wall and scattered them all over the floor!”
Joe calmly looked at the mess and said, “I know who did this.” Haley jumped to her feet and asked, “Who did it? Where are they? Are you going to call the police? Will they go to jail?” Joe shook his head and answered, “The police do not need to be called, and no one is going to jail. Frank is the one who did this! When those other deer were by the house last night eating the flowers, Frank heard or smelled them, and she wanted to get out of the barn and go with the other deer.”
Haley did not understand why Frank would want to leave her. She had worked hard to keep Frank alive. Why would she want to leave? Joe explained that even though Haley had saved Frank’s life, and Frank had adopted Haley as a substitute mother, Frank was still a deer and wanted to be with other deer.
Joe and Haley went outside, and they saw Frank running around looking for the other deer. Joe explained that the other deer were probably hidden in the forest sleeping by now, but they might come back again tonight. Joe told Haley that she should leave the door of the barn open tonight and let Frank make a choice about where she wanted to be and who she wanted to live with. Haley did not want to do this, but she trusted that Joe knew the best thing to do.
That night Haley fed Frank an especially good meal and she left the door of the barn open. Joe and Haley turned off the lights in the house and sat by a window to watch. They had to wait a long time, and while they were waiting Joe quietly told Haley that this situation could teach her just a little bit more about who she was.
Frank was created to be a deer, when her mother was killed, Frank lived with humans for a while, but Frank was not meant to be a human or to live with humans. In the same way, humans were created in the image of God and were designed to have friendship and a close relationship with God. Sin entered all humans when Adam and Eve gave in to temptation and listened to Satan. For many, many years humans have lived in sin and given in to the temptations of Satan, but we were not made to live like that.
God wanted humans to be His friends and have a close relationship with Him again, so He sent His Son Jesus to be born as a human (but still God), and to die on the cross to pay the penalty of our sins. When we believe in Jesus, and pray and ask for forgiveness, then Jesus comes into our life, and we begin a new life. A person that has Jesus in their heart is a friend of God and can begin to build a close relationship with God.
Joe told Haley that if Frank did leave and go with the other deer, Frank would begin a new life as a wild deer. It would not be easy, and Frank would have to learn many things. Frank would have to learn to search for food because Haley would not be there to feed Frank. Frank would have to learn how to find a good place to sleep and Frank would have to learn how to be aware of danger and either hide from the danger or run from the danger. Frank would learn by watching the other deer and staying with the other deer.
In the same way, when a person asks Jesus to forgive them and come into their life, they must learn how to live in a different way. They have a great desire to live their life to please God, but they do not know how to do it. They must learn how to avoid sin, how to come to God and confess their sin when they do sin. They must learn how to avoid the dangers of temptations, and they must learn what things please God and how to live for God. They must learn a whole new way of thinking and living!
In the Bible in Romans 12:1,2 it says:
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give you bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice – the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
When Joe finished reading the Bible verses to Haley, they both saw something moving in the shadows at the edge of the yard. As they watched, two deer came into the yard. These deer were bigger and older than Frank. At that very moment, Frank came out of the barn. The two deer and Frank cautiously came to each other and got acquainted. After a few minutes the two deer and Frank left together and went away into the darkness.
Haley was crying when they left, and she asked Joe if she would ever see Frank again. Joe told her that they might see Frank once in awhile because it would take some time before Frank forgot about living on the farm, but it would never be the same again. Even though they were sad to see Frank go, this was the way it was supposed to be. Frank was beginning to have her mind renewed into the mind of a wild deer. Haley now knew that God wanted to renew her mind and make her into the kind of person that is a friend of God.