Leapfrog and Toenail thought they went to the ocean to fill the salt shaker with salt, but really, they were in Utah by the Great Salt Lake. A Utah Police Car had just chased them down the mountain and the police officer looked very angry as he got out of the car.
Of course, the officer thought that Leapfrog and Toenail looked like very dangerous criminals. Toenail was holding a fully loaded salt shaker, and the officer thought that Toenail might “a-salt” him. So, the police officer pulled out his gun and ordered Leapfrog and Toenail to fall face-down on the ground! Toenail promptly obeyed and Leapfrog tried to obey, but his rollerblades rolled out from under him, and he landed flat on his back! Before they could react, the police officer sprang forward and snatched the salt shaker from Toenail, put handcuffs on Leapfrog’s wrists and handcuffs on Toenails ankles (remember, he is barefoot). The officer then said, “I arrest you in the name of the State of Utah for exceeding the speed limit going down a mountain, operating a vehicle without brakes, driving a tricycle without a license, using rollerblades in a restricted area, not flying an American Flag, and going barefoot without permission!
He put Leapfrog and Toenail in jail until they could have a trial. They had to wait several days because Toenail’s bare feet smelled so bad that they needed to have a day that was warm and sunny so that they could open all the windows in the courtroom. While they were waiting, they fed the prisoners bread and water, but Leapfrog and Toenail did not eat the bread or drink the water, they had a better idea. Leapfrog used all the bread to make a highly detailed map of the United States so that he could try to figure out how they ended up in Utah instead of by the ocean. Toenail pretended that he was a thunderstorm and made loud “thunder” noises and threw all the water onto the bread map of the United States. Leapfrog could not figure out how they managed to get to Utah, and after a while they got extremely hungry, so they scraped the soggy bread map off the floor and ate it!
The day of their trial finally arrived! Leapfrog and Toenail were so excited that they put on all their clothes inside-out! The courtroom was filled with people and all the television news teams were there. This was the biggest, and most frightful court case that they had ever seen! The judge came in and the people cheer wildly! The judge had bright green hair, and pink sunglasses! The police officer stepped forward and said, “These two hardened criminals were caught speeding down the mountain on tricycles that did not have brakes, they did not have a license, they did not have an American Flag attached to their handlebars, one of them was using rollerblades in a restricted area, and the other one was barefoot without permission!”
The judge asked Leapfrog and Toenail if they really did all these things. Toenail replied, “We did all of them except for one thing. I never am barefoot; I always wear shoes!”
The judge said, “You cannot prove that, in fact you happen to be barefoot right now!”
Toenail looked down at his dirty, smelly, bare feet and replied, “Uh— I actually have my invisible shoes on right now!”
It took the court 4 hours and 19 minutes to decide if Toenail really had bare feet, but at the end of that time, the judge came to a decision!
“These two criminals are guilty of everything the police officer said they did! They will have to pay the following fines!”
For going over the speed limit 10 cents
Operating a vehicle without brakes 40 cents
Driving a tricycle without a license 20 cents
Using rollerblades in a restricted area 50 cents
Not flying an American Flag 60 cents
Being barefoot without permission 5,000 dollars
Leapfrog and Toenail only had 3 cents with them, so they did not know what to do! The judge said the court would take a 20-minute break because he wanted to watch some tv commercials about dish soap!
The judge went to his room, and about 5 minutes later someone came into the courtroom. This new person had bright green hair and purple sunglasses! He went up to the front of the courtroom and took $5,001.80 out of his pocket and paid the entire fine for Leapfrog and Toenail! Then he went out of the courtroom. A few minutes later the judge came back into the front of the courtroom, he still had bright green hair and pink sunglasses.
Leapfrog had a wild idea! He said, “You were the one who paid our fine, you just changed sunglasses!” The judge looked embarrassed because Leapfrog figured that out, he was so embarrassed that his nose turned blue! Leapfrog asked, “Why did you pay our fine for us? The judge answered, “Because I used to be a farmer in Wisconsin, they used to call me Farmer Brown, and I used to be you neighbor and I am also related to you!”
Farmer Brown, Leapfrog (Farmer Purple), and Toenail (Farmer Green) had a great time that day, they became the best of friends and went out to a pizza place and ordered Chinese Food with Hot Chocolate!
Early the next morning, Leapfrog and Toenail had to continue their search for the secret formula for candy-flavored pop, so they began to look for their next clue. As they went past the post office, they saw a “Wanted Poster” in the window. The poster had a picture of a seven-year-old girl on it and said, “Wanted Dead or Alive, Trixie the Tricycle Thief”!
Application:
In Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus says:
“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. But I warn you – unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”
We can learn many things from these verses:
- None of us can perfectly obey God’s law, we all sin.
- God expects us to obey his commands
- God’s commands do not change
- None of us can pay the price for our sins (just like Leapfrog and Toenail could not pay for their crimes)
- Jesus came to earth and became like us (human, yet still God) so that he could die on the cross and rise from the dead to pay for our sins (just like the judge paid the fines for Leapfrog and Toenail because he was related to them and their neighbor)
- We cannot live as we please just because we have been forgiven, we need to keep obeying God’s commands and teach others to obey them too.