Leapfrog and Toenail had to get to Indiana to find Trixie’s grandfather. He made candy-flavored pop and he knew the secret formula. Leapfrog had a plan to get them to Indiana! First, they had to get essential supplies; they took the $500 reward that they had gotten for catching Trixie and spent half of it buying sunglasses and bottles of purple sunscreen. They figured that everyone in Indiana wore sunglasses and sunscreen, and they wanted to fit in! Toenail then asked, “Now that we have the supplies, how are we going to actually get there?” Leapfrog pointed across the street and said, “Look at that sign, what does it say?” Toenail replied, “It says, ‘Joe’s pizza! We deliver within 30 minutes or else it’s free!’” “That’s right” says Leapfrog, “When we are ready to go, I’ll call in an order for pizza to be delivered to Indiana, and they will deliver the pizza and us there within 30 minutes!”
Since Leapfrog was still wearing rollerblades, he was planning to hang onto the back bumper of the car and just roll along behind the car all the way to Indiana, but Toenail did not even have shoes or socks, so they had to come up with a different plan for him. Toenail wanted to pretend to be the car’s radio antenna and stand up straight on the hood, but Leapfrog thought that that would be a little bit too obvious. Then Leapfrog came up with the perfect plan! He said, “We will disguise you as a pizza box!” So, they got a pizza box and used some glue to attach the box to Toenail’s head. They did not look at the bottle of glue closely; it said ‘Ultra-Super-Duper Strength Glue, it will never come off!’ But our heroes did not know that there was a problem with the glue, so they were happy as Toenail got into the back seat of the pizza delivery car and crouched down so that only the box was visible from the front seat.
Leapfrog went to a phone and called Joe’s pizza. He said, “Hi I need a pizza delivered to Indiana, and I am really hungry for one of your large pizzas with sausage, mushrooms, pineapple, ham, cheese, tomato, baked beans, marshmallows, and rotten fish on it!”
Leapfrog had barely gotten to the delivery car when the door of Joe’s Pizza burst open with a bang and the delivery boy came running out with pizza. The delivery boy tripped over a fire hydrant and the pizza went flying into the air. The delivery boy landed flat on his face in the street and rolled down the hill, went under three cars and fell into a creek. Meanwhile, the pizza landed gently on top of the car. The delivery boy ran back to the car as fast as he could go; he jumped in the car, started the motor with a roar, and accelerated to a horrendous speed within 1 block! He was going so fast that the car went up the mountain without slowing down. When the car got to the top of the mountain it just kept going up, and soon it was flying. Leapfrog was still hanging onto the back bumper and the pizza was still on the roof of the car!
Leapfrog could see that they were getting close to the Mississippi River, but he was horrified when he saw that they were going to land just before the river, and there was no bridge in sight!
They crash landed on the ground just before the river and bounced up into the air again. The car was going so fast that it skipped across the water, just like a flat stone skipping across a lake! Leapfrog was waterskiing behind the car while wearing rollerblades. Leapfrog decided to do some fancy summersaults and flips in case anyone was watching.
The delivery car continued moving faster than a speeding blueberry right into Indiana! They were approaching their destination when suddenly, without warning, in the blink of an eye, a flock of flying wild turkeys appeared out of nowhere headed straight toward the delivery car. The delivery boy instantly stopped the car so he wouldn’t hit the turkeys, and Leapfrog went flying over the car and right into the flock of turkeys! Leapfrog and the turkeys were tumbling about in the air! The turkeys were pecking Leapfrog on the head, and Leapfrog was biting them in the wings! The turkeys were getting mad, so they grabbed him by his ears, and flew high into the air, and then let go of him! Leapfrog was falling hopelessly through the air, spinning in circles, and headed toward certain death! Two feet before Leapfrog hit the pavement it happened……
The shoestrings on the rollerblades got tangled on a radio antenna on top of a store building, and Leapfrog stopped falling and found himself hanging upside down just above the ground. Meanwhile, the pizza delivery car arrived with the pizza still on the roof. The boy got out of the car and delivered the pizza to the store owner just 29 minutes after it was ordered!
The store owner took the pizza and promised the delivery boy that he would pay for it right away! Instead of getting the money, he sat down on the ground and ate the whole pizza. Toenail got out of the car and told the storeowner that they needed to get a knife and cut Leapfrog’s shoestrings so that he could get down. The storeowner said, “I will get a knife out the store immediately!” Instead, he wandered over to the window and looked at his reflection and combed his hair. Toenail noticed that the name of the store was ‘Trixie’s Grandfather’s Store’. Toenail asked, “Are you Trixie’s grandfather?” The storeowner replied, “Yes, I am her grandfather, and I know the secret formula for candy-flavored pop!” Toenail said, “My friend and I are on a great adventure to find that secret formula, will you get it for us?” Trixie’s grandfather said, “Yes, I promise I will go and get it right now!” But instead, he began to eat some flowers that were growing by the road. Toenail exclaimed, “Why don’t you keep your promises? You keep promising things, but then you do something else!” Trixie’s grandfather said, “You are right, I solemnly swear on a stack of Bibles that I will go and get the secret formula now!” Instead, Trixie’s grandfather went running down the road, he ran all the way to the post office and mailed a letter. When he came back, Toenail was mad and demanded that Trixie’s grandfather keep his promise and give him the secret formula for the candy-flavored pop. Trixie’s grandfather said, “I cannot give you the formula, I just mailed it to the candy-flavored pop factory!” Then Leapfrog said, “…………
Application:
In Matthew 5:33-37, Jesus says:
“You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the Lord.’ But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne. And do not say, ‘By the earth!’ because the earth is His footstool. And do not say, ‘By Jerusalem!’ for Jerusalem is the city of the great King. Do not even say, ‘By my head!’ for you can’t turn one hair white or black. Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.”
Are you in the habit of telling the truth and keeping promises? Many people make a habit of not telling the truth, and then when they want someone to believe them, they must convince the person that they are telling the truth. They will say something like; “I swear I’m telling the truth”, or “I swear to God I’m telling the truth”, or something like “I swear on a stack of Bibles”.
Jesus does not want you to live like this. He wants you to be truthful all the time, and to keep your promises. You should be so honest that when you say something everyone will know that you are telling the truth and that they can depend on you to follow-through and do what you said you were going to do.
Satan likes for you to not be known as a truthful person, and he likes it when you need to take oaths so that people will believe you. If you make a special promise or ‘swear by’ something, then Satan hopes you will break the promise because then he will load you down with guilt.
If you have made mistakes in the past and people do not believe what you say, it is not too late. Remember what the Bible says in I John 1:9:
But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”
If you have fallen into the trap of taking oaths or making special promises so that people will believe you are truthful, ask for forgiveness and then move on and become so truthful that oaths or special promises are not needed!