The Professor, Shane, and Shelly were on their way to adventures in the flying bus! The Professor was hoping to find God! He knew a lot about God but did not know God personally. This adventure is the Professor’s Quest for God!
The Professor wrote on the wall of the flying bus the things that he has learned. So far, the Professor has learned:
- The beauty of nature points people to God. Nature so is awesome it just could not happen by chance, God created it.
- God has a plan for everything and everyone. God has a time for everything in His plan.
- God is kind. He shows His kindness to all people. No one deserves God’s kindness because we are all sinners. God’s greatest kindness was sending His Son Jesus to die on the cross to pay for our sins.
- God is just. Every sin must be punished. Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead to pay for all the sins ever committed. We must choose to accept Jesus’ payment for our sins or pay for our sins ourselves by being punished in the lake of fire forever.
- God pays attention to every detail. He knows every detail of your life and He loves and cares for you.
The Flying bus was still parked at the edge of the forest. The birds had eaten all the bird seed and the Professor, Shane and Shelly were talking to Chuck the Forest Ranger. Shelly said, “Suddenly it has gotten so quiet, the birds have all quit singing and there is no noise at all!” Chuck answered, “That is because it is almost night. The birds and all the other animals have eaten their food and now they are getting ready to sleep for the night. Soon the night animals will be waking up and there will be noise again, but for a short time there is quietness in the forest.” Shane said, “It is starting to get colder, we should build a bonfire to keep warm!” The Professor said, “I will go and get some firewood!”
At the edge of the forest there were three dead trees, two of them were uprooted and leaning against the third tree. The Professor threw a rope over the lowest branch of one of the leaning trees and then climbed up the rope. The Professor got on top of a big branch and began jumping on it so that it would break off! Chuck yelled, “Professor please do not jump on the branch like that! If the branch breaks off, you will fall to the ground with the branch!” The Professor said, “Ooops!” Then it happened! There was a loud noise of wood breaking the tree began to move! It was not the leaning tree that was breaking, the upright tree that was holding up the other two trees was finally falling down! All three trees began falling and the Professor said, “Ooops!”
A bald eagle had been perched in the top of the upright tree and when the tree began falling, the eagle flew out of the tree. The Professor quickly grabbed the legs of the eagle as it flew past him and was rescued from the falling tree! The eagle was not happy about carrying the Professor, but the eagle could not do anything about it. The eagle could not attack the Professor with it’s talons (claws) because the Professor was holding onto it’s legs just above the talons, and the eagle could not attack the Professor with it’s beak while it was flying. The eagle tried to shake the Professor loose by swooping from side to side, but the Professor hung on desperately and screamed “Ooops” without stopping! The eagle then had a great idea, it flew straight down toward the ground! Just before the eagle crashed into the ground, it swooped back up into the air! The Professor’s feet hit the ground and he lost his grip on the eagle’s legs. The Professor spun upside down and did three complete summersaults and then rolled to a stop underneath the flying bus! As the Professor crawled out from underneath the flying bus, Shane and Shelly were rolling on the ground laughing at the Professor. Shelly said, “You are so silly! You knocked down three trees instead of breaking off a branch!” Shane said, “You looked so stupid flopping around in the air under the eagle!”
The Professor was mad! He yelled at Shane and Shelly, “I thought you were my friends! Why are you making fun of me like this? Real friends do not treat their friends like this! You think that I am so stupid! Is this the way that Christians are supposed to act?” The Professor began crying and walked away from them and went on the other side of the flying bus and sat down.
Shane and Shelly felt awful, they had not meant to make the Professor feel bad. They did not think that their laughter would hurt the Professor so much. Shelly asked Shane, “What shall we do? We were not thinking, and we have ruined our friendship with the Professor.” Shane said, “I even said that the Professor looked stupid, I did not really mean that. The Professor is the best friend that we have ever had, except Jesus of course.”
Chuck came up to the twins and said to Shane and Shelly, “I will go with you and help you apologize to the Professor. I know a story from the Bible that might help him to understand what happened and help him to forgive you.” The three of them walked around to the other side of the bus and found that the Professor had just finished crying and was trying to pretend that he had not been crying at all. Shelly said, “Professor, you do not need to pretend that you were not crying, I know that I hurt you badly by saying you looked silly and making fun of you. I apologize and I hope that you will forgive me, I truly want to be your friend again.” Shane said, “I am sorry too for making fun of you, I really do not think that you are stupid, the words just slipped out when I was not thinking. Will you forgive me?”
Chuck said, “Professor, these two young people are really your friends, and they did not mean to hurt you. This reminds me of a story in the Bible. Just before Jesus was put on the cross to die for our sins, Peter was bragging that he would never leave Jesus, even if everyone else left Jesus. Jesus told Peter that before the next morning, Peter would tell people three times that he did not even know Jesus. Peter did not believe that he could ever do anything like that to Jesus because Jesus was his friend and he also believed that Jesus was the Son of God. But, before the next morning Peter did say three times that he did not even know Jesus! Jesus was all by himself and Peter and the rest of the disciples abandoned Jesus, they were not acting like good friends at all. Peter felt awful and he thought that he had lost his best friend and that things were never going to be the same again. After Jesus rose from the dead, He asked Peter three times if Peter really loved Him. Peter felt terrible because he remembered the three times that he said he did not even know Jesus, but now Peter told Jesus how much he loved Jesus. Jesus forgave Peter and even gave him a job to do. Jesus told Peter that his job was to watch over and take care of the people that would start believing in Jesus. Jesus forgave Peter and treated Peter as if the problem had never happened. Their friendship was stronger than it had been before.”
The Professor thought about this Bible story for a few minutes, then he said to Shane and Shelly, “I forgive you. I know that we all make mistakes and say things that we should not say, and sometimes hurt our friends very badly by being thoughtless. I believe that you are really my friends, actually the two of you are the only friends that I have. I do not want to lose your friendship!” Shane and Shelly ran to the Professor and they had a big group hug!!
Chuck said, “I am so glad to see that your friendship is saved! It is getting cold out here, why don’t we start that bonfire, those three dead trees are laying on the ground, so we have plenty of firewood.” The bonfire was wonderful that night, they had plenty to eat, and the weather was perfect for having a fire. It was warm sitting around that fire, but Shane and Shelly sat close on either side of the Professor. They wanted to share this evening with their special friend!
The Learning Corner:
This story is about faithfulness in friendships. All of us want to have a friend that is faithful to us all the time, and all of us want to be faithful to our friends always. The truth is that all of us fail many times. At one time or another all of us have been unfaithful to our friends. We have said mean things, or ignored them, or treated them badly. Too often our thoughtless actions ruin a good friendship. Shane and Shelly laughed at the Professor when he made mistakes trying to get firewood. They made fun of him and said he was silly and looked stupid, the laughter and the mean words hurt the Professor badly. They thought that their friendship was ruined forever.
Chuck, the Forest Ranger, knew the Bible story about Peter saying that he did not even know Jesus, and then Jesus later forgave him, and their friendship was saved. Jesus showed us that we need to be willing to forgive our friends when they are unfaithful to us.
The story about Peter saying three times that he did not even know Jesus is found in the Bible in the book of Luke chapter 22 verses 54 – 62. So they arrested Jesus and led Him to the high priest’s home. And Peter followed at a distance. The guards lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it and Peter joined them there. A servant girl noticed him in the firelight and began staring at him. Finally she said, “This man was one of Jesus’ followers!” But Peter denied it. “Woman,” he said, “I don’t even know him!” After a while someone else looked at him and said, “You must be one of them!” “No man, I’m not!” Peter retorted. About an hour later someone else insisted, “This must be one of them, because he is a Galilean, too.” But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. At that moment the Lord (Jesus) turned and looked at Peter. Suddenly, the Lord’s words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly.
The story about Jesus forgiving Peter is found in the Bible in the book of John chapter 21 verses 15-17. After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.” “Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him. Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.” “Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said. A third time He asked him, “Simon son of John, do love me?” Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.”
All of us will be unfaithful to our friends at some time and will want to be forgiven, all of us must learn to forgive when our friends are unfaithful to us. The good news is that Jesus is always faithful to us, He never fails us, He never will abandon us, He will never turn His back on us, He always loves us, even when we fail!
In the Bible in the book of II Timothy chapter 2, verse 13 it says, “If we are unfaithful, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny who He is.”
In the Bible in the book of Hebrews chapter 13, verse 5 it says, “I fill never fail you. I will never abandon you.”
A Christian (a person who has believed in Jesus, decided that want to follow Jesus and asked Jesus to forgive their sins) never has to worry about God ever being unfaithful to them or leaving them. If you have not given your life to Jesus yet, please take time today to pray and ask Jesus to forgive you and to help you live for Him!