The big fish jumped clear out of the water and opened his mouth! The Professor, Shane and Shelly came out of the fish on their bicycle and went flying through the air! Right behind them was Jonah! The Professor said, “Ooops”, and then….
Shane yelled, “This is great! We are flying! Don’t shift gears! Let’s stay here, and see Jonah preach to the people in Ninevah!” The Professor almost fell off the bike as they were flying through the air. Just in time he grabbed the bike and hung on! Unfortunately he didn’t grab the handlebars, he grabbed the gear shift lever and pulled it all the way into high gear by mistake!
Then it happened… The bicycle began bouncing like a toad in a washing machine! There was a blinding flash of light and a loud noise like a turtle singing! Suddenly they were not flying through the air towards shore, Jonah was not right behind them, and the big fish and the sea disappeared! The bicycle/time machine, Shane and Shelly landed on top of a big, huge wall! The Professor missed the wall and with a loud scream of Ooops he fell all the way down to the ground! Fortunately he landed on a big pile of sand, so he wasn’t hurt at all! Shane and Shelly looked around and saw that this was a very strange wall. It was about 30 feet tall. It was a lot taller than the houses that were beside it, in fact the wall went right around a whole city of houses! The wall was so wide and thick that there was room for about 4 people to walk side by side on top of it! In fact, there were even some houses built on top of the wall! After Shane and Shelly had looked around for a minute, they remembered the Professor! He was on the sand pile yelling, “Get me up on the wall, throw me a rope or something! One of the houses on the wall was right next to Shane and Shelly, so they knocked on the door to get help, but no one was home. Shelly opened the door and peeked into the house and asked, “Is anyone home? We need help, it’s an emergency!” No one answered, but Shelly noticed a red rope coiled up in the corner of the room, and she said, “Lets’ use that rope to get the Professor up on top of the wall! So Shane and Shelly tied the rope to a heavy chair and let the end of the rope out through the window. The rope was just barely long enough to reach the ground. The Professor started to climb up. He almost reached the top when he started to lose his grip! His eyes got big with fright, and he said, “Ooops” as he fell back onto the sand pile. Three times he tried to climb the rope, and three times he said, “Ooops” and fell back down! Finally on the last try he made it, and Shane helped him through the window! Just in time….
They heard voices coming toward the house! The Professor, Shane and Shelly hid under the bed just as a woman and two men came into the house. The men were saying, “Please hide us! The soldiers are looking for us!” The woman said, “I will hide you because I know God is with your people! Quick lay down on the floor and I will cover you with dried bunches of grain stalks.” So the woman hid the two men, and just as she finished some soldiers burst into the house! They didn’t even knock! They said, “We saw two men come in here, where are they? The woman answered, “They were here, but maybe you should look for them by the city gate before they escape!” The soldiers believed her and left. After the soldiers had been gone for awhile, the woman told the two men that they could come out. The men were so thankful, they said, “Rahab, what can we do to repay you for saving us?” Rahab answered, “I know that God is going to let your people destroy this city. When that happens, please let me and my family live!” The two men said, “We can see there is a red rope hanging out your window, leave that rope there, and when we attack your city, your house will be safe.” Rahab wondered how that rope got tied to the chair and put out the window, but she said, “Why don’t you men climb down the rope and escape, and I will leave the rope there so that my house won’t be destroyed when your people destroy the city.
The men escaped down the rope, and Rahab went to gather all her family and bring them to the safety of her house. While she was gone, the Professor, Shane and Shelly came out from under the bed. Shelly said, “ I know where we are! We have landed in another Bible story! We are in the city of Jericho! Those two men were the spies sent by Joshua just before Joshua and the nation of Israel attacked Jericho.” The Professor asked, “Did you say that this city will be attacked? Let’s get back to the bike and get out of here!” They went running out of the house to get the bicycle, but they couldn’t get to the bicycle because there was a squad of soldiers on the wall keeping watch. Shane said, ……. (come back next time to see what Shane says)
Application:
Review the story of Rahab and the two spies it is found in the Bible in the book of Joshua chapter 2 verses 1-21
Rahab showed kindness to God’s people even though it put her in danger (from the soldiers). We are also to show kindness. In the New Testament of the Bible in the book of Galatians chapter 5 verses 22-23 the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ is listed. Just like an apple grows on an apple tree, the fruit of the Spirit should begin growing in a Christian’s life. One of the fruit’s of the Spirit is kindness. That means that if we have Jesus living inside us, we should see kindness start to “grow” in us.
Please remember that an apple doesn’t just show up on the tree overnight, it takes a long time for the apple to grow and become ripe. In the same way, the fruit of the Spirit doesn’t just show up overnight, it takes time for it to grow in your life. If you struggle with being kind or with any of the other fruits of the Spirit, don’t get frustrated, God is working in your life and the fruit of the Spirit will grow. Pray to God and ask Him to help you grow the fruit of the Spirit in your life.
Galatians 6:9-10 “So, let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone–especially to those in the family of faith.”