FrogSpot Kids

A Make Believe Parable by Uncle Steve.

Photo by Belinda Hankins Miller — (cc)

“Why don’t you get something decent to wear? Ha, ha” Hannah laughed as Alyssa shuffled down the hallway to her classroom.

“Where’d you get your clothes, the dumpster?” Christy sneered, all the kids laughed as if it were the funniest joke they’d ever heard.

Alyssa’s school was in a very high-class area and most of her classmates came from the richest families in town. But she wasn’t rich. In fact her family was so poor that they couldn’t even afford to buy her the required school uniform at the beginning of the year so they had asked around and found one from a girl who had been her size last year. It was faded and stained up and the edges were ragged but it was all she could get. Oh, how the kids teased poor Alyssa till she wanted to run away and hide all day!

It wasn’t just the kids who didn’t like Alyssa’s uniform. Her teachers and principal were mortified that in such a high-class school they had a girl who looked so poor and ragged—they thought it made the whole school look bad. No, the teachers didn’t make fun of her like the kids did but they did pressure Alyssa and her parents to get her a “decent” uniform that would represent the school properly. But there just was no way she or her family could afford such clothing.

Photo by Belinda Hankins Miller — (cc)

Then one day as the final bell rang and the kids were scampering out the door Mrs. K called, “Alyssa, will you stay behind please?”

When the classroom was empty Alyssa sat at her desk with her head down “I wonder what Mrs. K wants? I didn’t do anything bad, did I?” she wondered.

“Now Alyssa,” Mrs. K began, “You know that we have a rule about what clothes you must wear to school.”

“But, I have a uniform” Alyssa protested.

“I’m not done,” Mrs. K scolded, “The rules say that your uniform must be clean and in good condition. Yours is totally faded, stained, and ratty that’s not what I call ‘good condition’”.

Alyssa waited to make sure her teacher was done talking, “B-but my mom washed it last night. It’s clean; really it is! It just looks dirty because it’s old. We don’t have enough money to buy a new one!” she said, a tear sliding down her cheek.

“Well, as you know, next Monday the superintendent of schools and the school inspectors will be here to inspect our school. We don’t want you spoiling our school’s score. Can you imagine how embarrassing it will be for our school if the Superintendent sees you in those awful clothes? You must come up with a decent school uniform by Monday. Am I making myself clear, young lady?”

Alyssa nodded. Mrs. K had been clear but what could she do? Mrs. K gave her a note to take to her mom that said just about the same thing and dismissed her.

“Mommy, Mommy, I just have to have a better uniform!” Alyssa wailed when she got home. “The kids all tease me and now Mrs. K says I have to have one by Monday.” Mom read the letter and Alyssa told her all about her talk with her teacher.

All week their family saved every penny. Alyssa did chores for the neighbors to try to earn money but it was no use by Sunday they still only had $13.21 to spend on a new uniform which would cost nearly $50.

Photo by Belinda Hankins Miller — (cc)

“Do I have to wear that ugly old thing again?” Alyssa whined as she put on the hated uniform again on Monday morning. But there was no other way.

When she got to school Mrs. K was very upset and the kids turned their backs to her. Alyssa noticed that the clock said 10:05 when the superintendent and her inspectors came into her classroom. She wished she could be invisible. The desks were in strait rows, the things on the shelves were neatly stacked and the kids all looked perfect as they sat at their desks. Everything was in perfect order; everything, that is, except Alyssa’s uniform. The Superintendent and Mrs. K whispered to each other; Alyssa knew they were talking about her because every once-in-a-while they pointed at her. Then Mrs. K announced, “Alyssa, the superintendent would like to see you in the principals office right away.”

Photo by Belinda Hankins Miller — (cc)

The kids snickered behind their hands as she shuffled out of the classroom and toward the principal’s office. “What will she say; what will she do?” she wondered.

It seemed like an eternity before the superintendent came into the room. Alyssa was too ashamed to look at her. “Hi Alyssa, I’m Mrs. Daniels.” She began in a kind voice. “Mrs. K told me about your situation. I’m afraid that this uniform is not acceptable here.”

“I tried, I really did! But I just couldn’t get enough money for a new one. Please don’t be mad!” she wailed “an-and please don’t make the school lose points because of me.”

“I would have to mark off the school because of that uniform. That’s what the rules say. But I’ve come up with a better idea.” The kind lady said with a twinkle in her eye. Then reaching into a bag she pulled out a brand new uniform just Alyssa’s size! “Try this on.”

Photo by Belinda Hankins Miller — (cc)

“W-what? For me!?!” Alyssa screeched. “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!” She ran to the bathroom to try it on. It fit perfectly! “It fits, it fits!” she cried as she hugged Mrs. Daniels so tight she could hardly breath.

“Then this uniform is yours on one condition.” Mrs. Daniels said with a smile.

“What’s that?” Alyssa asked her face falling.

“You have to give me your old one. Deal?”

“Deal!!!” Alyssa said enthusiastically as she handed the old dirty uniform to Mrs. Daniels.

“One more thing, Alyssa, tell your mom that I told the store that if you ever need any more school clothes to give them to you and I’ll pay for them. Now I think you should join you class again!”

Alyssa felt as if she was flying as she made her way back to class. Never again would she have to be the worst dressed girl in the school!

That’s like what Jesus will do for you. Heaven’s uniform is a robe of righteousness (righteousness means being perfect). But we have all sinned so our “uniforms are all dirty and old. No matter how hard you try you can’t clean up your own sin. The Bible says, “ All of us are dirty with sin.
All the right things we have done are like filthy pieces of cloth.” Isaiah 64:6 NCV

But Jesus is like the superintendent. When we confess that we cannot be good on our own He takes our old dirty uniform and gives us his own fresh, new, clean one. “I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness.” Isaiah 61:10 NLT

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, I accept Jesus as my personal Savior. I confess that I have ugly sin in my life and can’t stop doing bad things; please forgive me and give your clean robe of righteousness. Please be in charge of all my hopes and dreams and future plans. I give my whole life to You. I ask that You fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I ask that You make me want what you want. Thank you for giving me your perfectly clean uniform and eternal life right now. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Story Copyright (c) April 2008 by Steve Severance. Images are under the Creative Commons license(cc).

Hey Kids,

Here’s a skit that the 2nd and 3rd Graders in Logos are doing for Easter this year. It’s a story that will be read by a narrator while the kids act it out. Acting instructions are in parentheses, like this ( Instructions).

The Easter Dog Show

By Steve Severance © March 2008

Excitement was in the air in the small town of Edgemont. They had a new hero—a champion speller. Timothy Atkins had just clinched the first place title at the national Spelling Bee in Washington D.C., and since he was a native son, the town was understandably proud!

^{(Two kids with a big banner come to announce the celebration while others “nail” invitations to the pillars)}

The town leaders were organizing a city-wide celebration in Timothy’s honor. While some spread out a huge banner over Main Street, others posted invitations on every lamp post and every store window in town. The invitations read, “Come one, come all to a special celebration to honor the accomplishments of Timothy Atkins who won the National Spelling Bee in Washington.” Then they announced the time and location, which was the largest meeting room in the entire city! It seemed as if the whole town was abuzz with the exciting news and everyone pitched in to prepare for the big celebration.

The excitement was also very strong in the Atkins home. And if you were to peek into their window on the day of the celebration you’d see that other preparations were being made.

“Don’t forget to comb your hair, son. Let’s get that tie straightened a little; you want to look you best in the pictures!” Timothy pulled his tie into place as he and mother headed out the door and got into their car. Timothy bounced a little in excitement as he put on his seat belt.

^{(Mother and Tim pretend to drive over to where the celebration is. All the other kids are facing backwards with their heads down.)}

When they arrived, the parking lot was so full that Mother had to drop Timothy off and go in search of a place to park.

^{(Tim makes door opening motion and the kids turn around and begin milling around silently talk and looking at each other’s dogs but ignores Timothy. Tim looks confused, tries to talk to some people but is still ignored.)}

As he opened the door he was taken by surprise. It seemed that everyone in town had come out to celebrate his accomplishment.

But as he walked in he was met with another surprise—everyone ignored him. When he tried to greet his friends they hardly even acknowledged his presence and continued to look at their dogs! It was the strangest thing. No one greeted him, no one spoke of the spelling champ—in fact it seemed to Timothy as if everyone had forgotten why this celebration was happening in the first place.

He breathed a sigh of relief when the mayor strolled to the microphone to make an announcement. Surely Mayor Woods would get things on track. “Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention please,” the mayor began. He clapped his hands a few times to get everyone’s attention. “As you all know, we have gathered here today to celebrate a kid from our town, um, what’s his name?” he paused for a moment. “Oh well, I guess it doesn’t really matter does it? Anyway we’re here to celebrate some kid who won, er, something. I don’t quite recall what it was. Oh well, congratulations, whoever you are about whatever you did. Now let’s get onto the main event. If everyone will bring their dogs to the front the judging will begin.”

^{(All the kids line up their dogs and the mayor begins to look closely at each animal.)}

“Is that all?” Timothy thought, “They set up this whole celebration to honor my hard work with spelling and my championship and they can’t even remember my name?” Timothy felt miserable so he sat down by the door with his head in his hands to wait for his mother to come. The thought that they were more interested in dogs than him hurt like he’d had a knife stabbed into his heart.

Finally he saw his mother walk in. “Let’s go!” he said as he pulled her out the door as fast as he could. They hurried out to the car where Timothy slammed the door and hunkered down in his seat.

“What’s going on?” Mother asked.

“It’s awful, just awful,” Timothy wailed. “No one even noticed I was there, the mayor forgot who I was and what I’d done, and no one else remembered well enough to remind him! All they cared about were their dogs! They ‘re having a dog show, Mom, a dog show when they’re supposed to be celebrating my spelling bee championship!”

“I’m so sorry,” mother began, “I bet it hurts terribly to be left out and ignored at your own celebration. I think Jesus knows just how you feel.”

“Really? Why?”

^{(Kids make “human pictures” of Jesus on the cross, Jesus being buried, Women at the tomb, and Jesus rising, as mother Mentions them. “Human Picture” actors should stand with their backs to the audience and head down until it’s time for their picture then they spin around to face the audience, make their picture and freeze till the skit is over.)}

“A long time ago people got together and said, ‘Let’s set up a special day every year to celebrate what Jesus did on the cross for us.’ They called the holiday Easter. It’s a day when we should remember how Jesus died on the cross to take our punishment for sin so that we wouldn’t have to. It’s a time to remember that he was buried in the tomb even before they were able to give Him a proper burial because the Sabbath had come. But when some women came to the tomb that next Sunday morning to finish the burial they were surprised to find the stone rolled away because Jesus had risen from the dead. And, Timothy, because He has conquered death we too can have eternal life if we trust in Him. But these days when people celebrate Easter they forget all about that story and about Jesus and celebrate bunnies and Easter Eggs. How do you think that makes Jesus feel?”

Timothy thought about that for a long minute. He didn’t answer out loud for no answer was needed. But silently he began to pray, “I want you, Jesus, much more than bunnies and eggs. Help me never to forget what you did for me. Amen.”

^{(Freeze and lights down.)}

By Steve Severance © March 2008. Feel free to use this skit in your church ministry but please email me and let me know you did! Also, please include the copyright info.

Hey everyone,

Guess what! Your Story Hour is now streaming their dramatized stories on the web.

I think you’ll enjoy hearing these dramatized stories.

You can also sign up for the free “Adventures in the Holy Bible” Bible study guides and get a complete set of dramatized stories on the life of Jesus. Check it out!

Click here to listen

Your friend,

T. J. Tucker

Hey kids,

Here’s a little story I found in an old book that I think you might enjoy.

Uncle Steve

______

MOPSEY’S MISTAKE

Uncle Jack came in one cold evening, looking for all the world like a bear, Louie thought, in his big overcoat. He caught Louie up and gave her a real bear-hug, too.”Hello, Mopsey! where’s Popsey?” he asked.

Popsey was Louie’s baby sister, two years old, and her name wasn’t Popsey any more than Louie’s name was Mopsey, but Uncle Jack was all the time calling folks funny names, Louie thought.

“Her’s gone to bed,” she said.

Then Uncle Jack put his hand in his pocket and made a great rustling with paper for a minute before he pulled out two red-and-white sugar-sticks and gave them to Louie. “It’s too bad that Popsey’s asleep,” said he. But I’m afraid Louie was rather glad of it.

“Aren’t you going to save one stick for Grace?” asked mama. Popsey’s real name was Grace.

“No,” said Louie, speaking low. “I don’t believe sugar-sticks are good for little girls. ‘Sides, I want it myself.”

Just as she swallowed the last bit there came a little call from her bedroom: “Mama?”

“Hello!” said Uncle Jack, “Popsey’s awake!”

And in a minute, out she came in mama’s arms, rosy, and smiling, and dimpled.

Then there was another great rustling in Uncle Jack’s pocket, and pretty soon—

“This is for Popsey!” said Uncle Jack.

She took her two sugar-sticks in her dimpled hands and looked at them a second—dear little Popsey!—and then she held out the larger one to Louie.

“Dis for ‘ou,” she cooed, “and dis for me!”

Poor Louie! She hung her head and blushed. Somehow she didn’t want to look at Uncle Jack or mama. Can you guess why?

“Dis for ‘ou!” repeated Popsey, cheerfully, pushing the long sugar-stick into her hand.

“Take it, Louie,” said mama.

And Louie took it. But a little afterward mama overheard her tell Popsey:—

“I won’t never be such a greedy thing any more, Popsey, dear. And I’s always going to divide with you, all the time after this, long’s I live!”

_______________________________________________________________

Taken from the book, “The King’s Daughter and Other Stories for Girls”

Hey kids,

A friend of mine found this on the internet. I thought you might like as little different version of this Bible story.

Enjoy!

Uncle Steve

Feeling footloose and frisky, a featherbrained fellow forced his father to fork over his farthings. Fast he flew to foreign fields and frittered his family’s fortune, feasting fabulously with floozies and faithless friends. Flooded with flattery, he financed a full-fledged fling of “funny foam” and fast food.

Fleeced by his fellows in folly, facing famine and feeling faintly fuzzy, he found himself a feed-flinger in a filthy foreign farmyard. Feeling frail and fairly famished, he fain would have filled his frame with foraged food from the fodder fragments.

“Fooey,” he figured, “my father’s flunkies fare far fancier,” the frazzled fugitive fumed feverishly, facing the facts. Finally, frustrated from failure and filled with foreboding (but following his feelings) he fled fairly fast from the filthy foreign farmyard.

Far away, the father focused on the fretful familiar form in the field and flew to him and fondly flung his forearms around the fatigued fugitive. Falling at his father’s feet, the fugitive floundered forlornly, “Father, I have flunked and fruitlessly forfeited family favor.” Read the rest of this entry »