Starting Over
Mooster: Hey everybody! How are you today? (Wait for replies) Awesome! Hey Moe!!! Monkey Moe! The kids are here and ready for our story – where are you??
Monkey Moe: (Sadly..from far away) I’m comin’ , I’m comin’….
Mooster: Well hurry it up a little there, Moe, I can see the moss growing up around the tree trunk!
Moe: (pokes head through slowly) Yeah…. Moss.. is.. fascinating…..
Mooster: Moe, you seem very sad today! What’s wrong? Did you lose your banana skates? Forget your homework? Get grounded?
Moe: Wrong? Oh nothing really. Just my entire life is being uprooted and shaken and dropped and kicked and set back down. Nothing much at all to be upset about.
Mooster: Aren’t you exaggerating just a little bit?
Moe: Well, I guess no one actually kicked me. But otherwise that’s pretty much the situation.
Mooster: Moe, tell me what’s happening.
Moe: You remember my dad lost his job a few months back?
Mooster: Yes….
Moe: Well, he’s been looking and looking. Finally, a company clear across the jungle offered him a job as a cook. You know he’s world famous for his banana and coleslaw stir fry. And no one makes banana melon shakes like he does! So anyway, he took the job.
Mooster: Well shouldn’t we all be excited about that? That’s an answer to prayer!
Moe: Well, yeah, I’m glad he got another job, buy why couldn’t it be here, in this part of the jungle? Mooster, it’s just too far away! With the price of gas, my dad can’t afford to drive our bananamobile so far every day. We…we…(sniff, sniff) we have to move!! We have to sell our treehouse and we’re moving into a tiny little tree apartment. Dad says it’s only temporary until we can find another house, but I doubt that. You remember the flamingos that had to move when the shrimp disappeared? They ended up staying in that little apartment of theirs for months and months! I hate living in apartments. I don’t want to be stuck in one for months and months. You never know what kind of neighbors you’ll have. What if we have giraffes living below us? They’ll be forever sticking their necks in our business! And what if we have woodpeckers next door? I’ll never be able to sleep.
Mooster: Well, Moe – there’s no sense borrowing trouble.
Moe: What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything to get into trouble. And I haven’t borrowed anything. Are you sure you are paying attention to what I’m telling you?
Mooster: Yes, Moe, I’m listening. “Borrowing trouble” is a figure of speech. It means don’t worry over troubles you don’t even have yet. You are worrying about bad neighbors when you haven’t even moved. You might end up with really nice neighbors who have kids or pets that you would enjoy playing with!
Moe: Humph! Probably not. We’ll probably have woodpeckers poking holes in our walls every day. But that’s not the worst of it – all my brothers and sisters and I have to change schools, too! That means we’ll have to make new friends!
Mooster: Well making new friends can be good, Moe! And just because you move doesn’t mean you won’t see your other friends anymore. You will still be in the same town.
Moe: Well, it just seems that once someone moves away they don’t keep up with their old friends anymore. And that hurts. You remember Mrs. Sunniday? When she moved here she was very sad because her old friends in Florida stopped calling and writing to her. She missed them very much.
Mooster: You’re right, Moe. It does hurt when people move and their old friends don’t seem to keep up with them. But first of all, that doesn’t always happen. Second, you remember Mrs. Sunniday got involved with a good church right away and made lots of new friends and now she’s busy all the time. I never see her sad anymore. I think you need to see this as an opportunity that God is giving you and your family.
Moe: Opportunity? For what? Misery? Mooster, I just don’t see how God can take moving someone and make good come of it. And what about all those kids I don’t know?? They’ll probably be jealous of my cute and adorable ears, and then they’ll make fun of me and call me names. I won’t be able to stand it! It’s hard to be so adorable, you know.
Mooster: Yeah…adorable….and humble, right?
Moe: You have no idea!
Mooster: Listen, Moe – here’s a Bible verse that might help you. Why don’t you memorize Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Sometimes we can’t see ahead and see what God’s plan is, but we can trust Him that He knows what He is doing.
Moe: Yeah, you are probably right. I do need to trust that God knows what He is doing.
Mooster: And, Moe, God does give opportunities like this! You can make new friends – you are a friendly little monkey. And you didn’t know all the friends you have now when you first moved here. You had to get to know them. So you’ll just be doing that again. Did you know that moving people is one of the ways God allowed the Gospel to be spread in early church history?
Moe: Really? God moved people around? How? Did He use tornadoes? I’ve always thought riding a tornado would be kind of awesome. I’d have to make sure to wear eye protection though because of all the dust….
Mooster: No, Moe, I’m not saying God uses tornadoes to pick folks up and move them! Do you remember reading about the Apostle Paul, before he got saved?
Moe: Yes, his name was Saul before he got converted on the road to Damascus. He took Christians from their homes and put them in prison. See – I do pay attention in Sunday School!
Mooster: Very good - that’s right. Even after Paul got saved, during the times of the early church, there were a lot of Christians who were persecuted. Some were put in prison, some were hung, some were even thrown to the lions! Many Christians were killed for their faith in Christ.
Moe: That’s awful! Are you sure you are trying to make me feel better? I don’t think it’s working yet…. Did the Christians run away and try to hide from the people who tried to kill them?
Mooster: Some did. They moved to other cities where they would not be killed for their faith. Once they were safely in a new city, they began telling others about being saved through believing in Jesus Christ!
Moe: Oh – so God used their moving to a new place to make it so others could hear the Gospel! That’s cool! But it would have been scary and hard for the people who were moving to save their lives.
Mooster: Yes, it would have been scary…just like it’s kind of scary for you to move and have to make new friends. And you are a little scared about your neighbors, too. But maybe God wants your family to be a witness in the new apartment building!
Moe: Soooo….we could be like…missionaries? Telling new people about Jesus?
Mooster: That’s right, Moe. And you can talk about Jesus at school, too – and tell all those new friends you make about the very Best Friend of all – Jesus Christ.
Moe: And I could invite them to come to church with me, too. And I could tell them about Thursday nights here at Gospel. Wow – so much to do!!! I guess I better go home and start packing.
Mooster: Glad to hear it Moe. I can come help you if you need an extra hoof or two.
Moe: Yeah – you can probably carry all our clothing on your antlers!
Mooster: Okay – well let’s go then – Bye kids!!
Moe: Bye!
No comments:
Post a Comment