The next morning Kris and Kell slept late because they were so tired and sore from the amusement park and from their stay in the old schoolhouse. When they finally woke up, the morning was half gone, and there was an envelope that had been shoved under the door of their hotel room.
The note in the envelope said to drive to Philip, South Dakota. The trip would almost take ten hours! Kris and Kell got dressed in a hurry, ate some food, and hit the road!
It was a nice day for a drive, and they both enjoyed the scenery. Late in the afternoon they were driving in South Dakota, and the land looked so different from where they had been in Iowa. They were seeing the beginning of the western prairie lands. Both Kris and Kell loved this landscape and Kell watched hawks soaring in the clear blue sky! Kell decided that she was going to change the ringtone on her phone to a hawk’s cry! It was a lonely yet beautiful sound.
By the time they got to Philip, South Dakota it was starting to get dark, and they did not know where they were supposed to spend the night. Just then they heard a hawk’s cry! It took Kell a few seconds to realize that it was her phone ringing! She answered the phone and a person from the Misadventures…Plus Travel Agency told her the name of the hotel they were going to stay in for the next two nights. The travel agent also gave them directions for the next morning; they were supposed to drive down a certain road until they saw a large rodent! The travel agent hung up without giving any further explanation.
The next morning, they got in the car, found the right road, and began looking for a large rodent. Kell asked Kris, “Is a rodent something like a mouse?” Kris told her, “A mouse is a rodent, but so are rats, squirrels, chipmunks, gerbils, and hamsters.” Kris and Kell were looking all around to see if they could see any rodent, and they wondered how they would know which one was the ‘large rodent’.
Then they saw it! There was a 12-foot-high concrete statue of a rodent!
Kris and Kell could not believe their eyes! They pulled into the parking lot and went into a small store that was there and asked about the statue. They found out that it was a statue of a prairie dog! Prairie dogs live in the western part of the United States in the same areas where the buffalo once lived. Prairie dogs make underground ‘towns’ to live in. They live in large families, and many families live in a prairie dog town.
Most of the year the prairie dogs get along with each other and help each other. During the winter months, when the babies are born, they do not get along so good, and there is fighting between the families sometimes.
They are called prairie dogs because when there is danger, they will make a ‘barking noise’ to warn the other prairie dogs in the town of danger. Scientists have learned that prairie dogs make different sounds to identify the kind of danger that is approaching. When a danger signal is heard, all the prairie dogs quickly go into their tunnels. These tunnels go a long way underground, and the whole town is connected by tunnels. When members of the same family meet each other, they greet each other by rubbing their front teeth, it looks like they are kissing each other!
The worker in the store told Kris and Kell that there was a large prairie dog town outside behind the statue. Kris and Kell bought some food to give to the prairie dogs and then they went out to the viewing area. They could not believe how many prairie dog holes there were in the ground! From the viewing area the town seemed like it went almost as far as they could see. There were many prairie dogs outside their holes, and some were coming close to the viewing area so that people could throw some food to them.
Kris and Kell loved the prairie dogs! They were throwing food to the prairie dogs and having a good time when it happened! Kell’s phone rang, and she had set her ringtone to a hawk’s cry! Immediately some of the prairie dogs began ‘barking’, and all the prairie dogs ran as fast as they could into their holes! In a moment there was not a prairie dog anywhere outside! Kell started to cry and said, “Oh no! Another misadventure!”
The other people that were there feeding the prairie dogs were upset with Kell because her phone had made all the prairie dogs go into their holes. Most of the people left, but Kris and Kell sat down in the viewing area and waited for the prairie dogs to come outside again. Then they spent more time feeding the prairie dogs.
Lesson Learned about God
That night in the hotel room Kris and Kell talked about their adventures with the prairie dogs. Kell said that she loved the way all the families of prairie dogs lived together in a big town. She said that it reminded her of the way Christians are one ‘big family’ with Jesus Christ as the head of the family.
In the Bible in Ephesians 2:19-21 it says:
So now you Gentiles (people who are not Jews) are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are His house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus Himself. We are carefully joined together in Him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.
In the Bible in John 1:12-13 it says:
But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn – not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
In the Bible in Ephesians 1:5 it says:
God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure.
All those in the whole world, who have believed in Jesus and accepted Him into their life are part of one big family! Just like in the prairie dog towns, there are times when we may not agree with each other, and we may even argue and get mad at times, but we are still family. We should always be praying for those brothers and sisters who are in need and doing what we can to help family members who need help!
In the Bible in I Thessalonians 5:15-18 it says:
See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people. Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
Report to the grandmother:
- At the travel agency – God has a good plan for us. Jeremiah 29:11
- Florida – God is watching over us, we do not need to be fearful. Psalms 23
- Wisconsin – Temptations. I Corinthians 10:13, Proverbs 14:12, I John 1:9
- Minnesota – Never take your eyes off Jesus. Matthew 14:22-33
- Kentucky – God’s Word (the Bible) is the truth! John 17:17
- Louisianna – Choose Heaven and the Tree of Life. Revelation 20:11-15, Revelation 21:27 thru 22:5
- Illinois – God is in control. Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 8:28-30, Proverbs 16:9
- New Mexico – God is our place of safety. Psalms 46:1-3, Psalms 91:1-2, Psalms 18:1-2, John 14:1-3
- Alabama – Training for heaven. I Peter 1:18-21, I John 3:2-3, Ephesians 5:1-2, I Peter 2:21, II Timothy 4:6-8
- Georgia – Sin erodes a person’s life and brings death. Galatians 5:19-21, Romans 3:22-25a
- Texas – Jesus offers abundant life. John 10:10, Mark 12:29-31.
- Kansas – Humans are filled with hatred and evil. Genesis 8:21-22, Romans 3:21-25a.
- South Carolina – Reminder of the Crucifixion. Isaiah 53:3-9
- Arkansas – Jesus is Crowned with Glory and Honor. Hebrews 2:9-10, Revelation 19:16, John 11:25-26
- Idaho – Times of Refreshing. Acts 3:19-20a, Matthew 11:28-30, Isaiah 40:28-31
- Washington State – Obeying God is Important! James 1:22-25, James 4:17
- Oregon – Do not let your first love for Jesus erode. Revelation 2:4-5a, Psalms 51:10-12
- Ohio – We are secure in God’s hands. Isaiah 41:13, Psalms 139:9-10, Psalms 73:23-28.
- Iowa – God is in control: Past, Present, & Future. Hebrews 13:8, Revelation 4:8.
- South Dakota – Believers are the family of God. Ephesians 2:19-21, John 1:12-13, Ephesians 1:5, I Thessalonians 5:15-18.