We may not all understand it, yet…

In the city of Chicago, one cold, dark night, a blizzard was setting in. A little boy was selling newspapers on the corner, the people were in and out of the cold. The little boy was so cold that he wasn’t trying to sell many papers. He walked up to a policeman and said, “Mister, you wouldn’t happen to know where a poor boy could find a warm place to sleep tonight, would you? You see, I sleep in a box up around the corner there and down the alley and it’s awful cold in there, of a night. Sure would be nice to have a warm place to stay.”

The policeman looked down at the little boy and said, “You go down the street to that big white house and you knock on the door. When they come out the door you just say ‘John 3:16’ and they will let you in.” So he did, he walked up the steps to the door, and knocked on the door and a lady answered. He looked up and said, “John 3:16.”

The lady said “Come on in, Son.” She took him in and she sat him down in a split bottom rocker in front of a great big old fireplace and she went off. He sat there for a while, and thought to himself, “John 3:16…. I don’t understand it, but it sure makes a cold boy warm.”

Later she came back and asked him “Are you hungry?” He said, “Well, just a little. I haven’t eaten in a couple of days and I guess I could stand a little bit of food.” The lady took him in the kitchen and sat him down to a table full of wonderful food. He ate and ate until he couldn’t eat any more. Then he thought to himself, “John 3:16… Boy, I sure don’t understand it, but it sure makes a hungry boy full.

She took him upstairs to a bathroom to a huge bathtub filled with warm water and he sat there and soaked for a while. As he soaked, he thought to himself, “John 3:16… I sure don’t understand it, but it sure makes a dirty boy clean. You know, I’ve not had a bath, a real bath, in my whole life. The only bath I ever had was when I stood in front of that big old fire hydrant as they flushed it out.”

The lady came in and got him, and took him to a room and tucked him into a big old feather bed and pulled the covers up around his neck and kissed him goodnight and turned out the lights. As he laid in the darkness and looked out the window at the snow coming down on that cold night he thought to himself, “John 3:16… I don’t understand it, but it sure makes a tired boy rested.”

The next morning she came back up and took him down again to that same big table full of food. After he ate she took him back to that same big old split bottom rocker in front of the fireplace and she took a big old Bible and sat down in front of him and she looked up at and she asked, “Do you understand John 3:16?”

He said, “No, Ma’am, I don’t. The first time I ever heard it was last night when the policeman told me to use it.”

She opened the Bible to John 3:16 , and she began to explain to him about Jesus. Right there in front of that big old fireplace he gave his heart and life to Jesus. He sat there and thought, “John 3:16. I don’t understand it, but it but it sure makes a lost boy feel safe.”

You know, I have to confess I don’t understand it either, how God would be willing to send His Son to die for me, and how Jesus would agree to do such a thing. I don’t understand it either, but it sure does make life worth living. John 3:16

– Author Unknown

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

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Imagine you and the Lord Jesus walking down the road together. For much of the way, the Lord’s footprints go along steadily, consistently, rarely varying the pace. But your footprints are a disorganized stream of zigzags, starts, stops, turnarounds, circles, departures and returns. For much of the way, it seems to go like this, but gradually your footprints come more in line with the Lord’s soon paralleling His consistently. You and Jesus are walking as true
friends!

This seems perfect, but then an interesting thing happens: your
footprints, that once etched the sand next to Jesus’, are now walking
precisely in His steps. Inside His larger footprints are your smaller ones, safely you and Jesus are becoming one.

This goes on for many miles but gradually you notice another
change. The footprints inside the larger footprints seem to grow
larger. Eventually they disappear altogether. There is only one set of footprints; they have become one.

This goes on for a long time, but suddenly the second set of footprints is back. This time it seems even worse! Zigzags all over the place. Stops. Starts. Deep gashes in the sand. A veritable mess of prints. You are amazed and shocked. Your dream ends. Now you pray:

“Lord, I understand the first scene with the zigzags and fits. I was a new Christian; I was just learning. But you walked
on through the storm and helped me learn to walk with you.”

“That is correct.”

“… and when the smaller footprints were inside of Yours, I was
actually learning to walk in Your steps; I followed you very closely.”

“Very good. You have understood everything so far.”

“…when the smaller footprints grew and filled in Yours, I
suppose that I was becoming like you in every way.”

“Precisely.”

“So, Lord, was there a regression or something? The footprints
separated, and this time it was worse than at first.”

There is a pause as the Lord answers with a smile in His voice.

“You didn’t know? That was when we danced.”

–Author Unknown

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

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Jack, a 9-year-old elementary student, is sitting at his school desk. All of a sudden there is a puddle between his feet, and the front of his pants are wet.

He thinks his heart is about to stop, because he knows when the boys find out, he’ll never hear the end of it. And when the girls find out, they’ll never speak to him again.

The boy puts his head down and prays this prayer: “Dear God, this is an emergency! I need help now! Five minutes from now I’m dead meat.” He looks up from his prayer, and here comes the teacher with a look in her eyes that says he’s been discovered.

As the teacher is coming to snatch him up, a classmate named Susie is carrying a goldfish bowl filled with water. She stumbles and dumps the goldfish bowl in his lap. He pretends to be angry but prays, “Thank you, Jesus!”

Now, rather than being the object of ridicule, Jack is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out. When he comes back to class, all the kids are on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. The turn of events and the unexpected sympathy are wonderful!

But as life would have it, the ridicule that belongs to Jack has been transferred to Susie. She tries to help, but they tell her to get out: “You’ve done enough, you klutz!”

Finally, at the end of the day, Jack and Susie are waiting at the bus stop. The boy walks over to Susie and whispers, “Susie, you did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

Susie whispers back, “I wet my pants once too.”

In the moments of another person’s discomfort, the Lord calls us to “dump the water out of our fishbowl” and do a kind act for someone else.

– Author Unknown

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

Learn More…