Always Rewarded

“Not fair, Hallie!” Larissa shouted. Hallie laughed as she ran to the base. “Fell for the old ‘Look at that airplane trick,’ didn’t you?!” Hallie teased her friend. Laughing, Larissa caught up to Hallie. “Okay, you win - again,” she admitted. “Let’s go to the neighborhood park,” Larissa suggested. “I’m tired of this game.” “Only because you haven’t won,” Hallie teased. “Yeah, I’ll get you one of these days!” Hallie and Larissa laughed together as they walked to the park. “Uh-oh,” Larissa said quietly. “Don’t look now, but here comes Tyler and his friends.” Tyler was an older boy in their neighborhood who enjoyed picking on younger kids. Hallie and Larissa looked down, hoping Tyler would leave them alone. “Phew, that was close,” Hallie said. “Yeah,” Larissa agreed.

The next day, Hallie and Larissa were in Sunday School, listening to Mr. Fowler. “So,” he began. “Can anyone tell me what compassion is?” After a pause, someone suggested, “Feeling sorry for someone?” “That’s a good suggestion, but keep thinking,” Mr. Fowler encouraged. “Is it pity?” someone else asked. “That’s what a lot of people think compassion is,” Mr. Fowler said. “But compassion is more than ‘pity’ or ‘feeling sorry’ for someone. Compassion is more than a feeling. Amy Carmichael was missionary to India in the early 1900s. During that time, there was a practice in India of selling young girls to the local Hindu temples as, basically, slaves. Now, if Amy Carmichael had just felt sorry for them or pitied them, not much may have come of it. But instead, she rescued many girls from the temples and raised them as her own, giving them a knowledge of Christ and the things of God instead of allowing them to be mistreated by the temple workers. Compassion is choosing to act when you see someone hurting. It can be scary sometimes, because it might call you to stand up to an injustice, to stand up to someone who is mean to others. But God always rewards our obedience, and He will take care of us when we are afraid.”

Later that day, Hallie and Larissa were going to the neighborhood park again. “How would you like to live in India?” Larissa asked. “All those strange foods, those hot summer temperatures...” “I think I like America just fine,” Hallie said. “But I’m sure it would be neat to go to another country and-” “Look, Hallie,” Larissa interrupted me. “It’s Tyler and a couple of his friends - and they’re picking on a little boy.” As they got closer, Hallie and Larissa could hear what Tyler was saying. “I’m gonna play on this basketball court, okay? You can just go play on the baby swings. You’re too little to play with us,” he said, sneering at the smaller kid. “But there are two basketball courts,” the boy protested. “You can play on that one, and I’ll play on this one.” Suddenly, Tyler stepped forward and shoved the boy. “Don’t tell me what to do!” he said. “I told you to go play somewhere else.” Hallie remembered Amy Carmichael, and Mr. Fowler’s words. “Compassion is choosing to act when you see someone hurting. It can be scary sometimes, because it might call you to stand up to an injustice, to stand up to someone who is mean to others. But God always rewards our obedience, and He will take care of us when we are afraid.” Hallie closed her eyes and prayed. Please God, let Tyler just leave. I don’t want to speak up. She opened her eyes. Tyler was still towering over the little boy. “I just want to play basketball,” the boy said. “I’ll leave you guys alone.” This time Tyler looked really angry. He shoved the boy so hard he fell down. “I’ll tell you -” he was interrupted. “Stop it, Tyler!” Hallie shouted as she emerged from their hiding place. “Hallie, what are you -wait-stop!” Larissa couldn’t believe what Hallie was doing. “Leave him alone - he’s not hurting you,” Hallie was standing in front of Tyler now, in between him and the boy lying on the ground. “And what makes you the boss of me,” he asked menacingly. For the first time, Hallie second-guessed herself - what was she doing standing in front of the bully? Quickly, she prayed again: Please help me, Lord. “I’m not your boss,” she told Tyler. “But I am his friend,” she said. “And you can’t just go bossing him around.” Slowly, Tyler backed up from Hallie. “Okay,” he said. “We’ll do it your way. But if he so much as touches our court, he’ll regret it.” Amazed, Hallie watched Tyler and his friends get back on their bikes and leave. “We’ll come back later, guys,” Tyler told his friends. “Wow,” Larissa said quietly. Hallie hadn’t realized that Larissa was standing right next to her while she was talking to Tyler. She smiled at Larissa. “I prayed that God would help me and He did,” she said. “I was praying, too, Hallie Carmichael,” Larissa smiled at her friend as she teased her. Hallie turned around to see the boy had stood up.

“Are you okay?” she asked him. “Yeah, he said. “Thanks.” “No problem,” Hallie answered. “But, why did you say you’re my friend?” he asked. “I’ve never even seen you before.” “Well,” Hallie wondered how she would explain it to him. “God calls me to be a friend to those who need one REFERENCE. It looked like you could use one.” “Yeah, I could,” he agree. “My name’s Hallie,” Hallie extended her hand to him. “And this is my friend Larissa. What’s your name?” “Kyle,” he said as he shook your hand. “I just moved here last week. At my old school, I was on the basketball team, so I was glad there is a court nearby to practice on. Maybe I can get on the team at my new school.” “I hope you do,” Hallie said.

Later that day, as Hallie was getting ready for bed, she thought about her day. Wow. I didn’t know that compassion could be so scary. But thank you, God, for helping me. Mr. Fowler was right. God always rewards our obedience. She thought of Kyle’s relief at being able to practice on the basketball court. She thought of her renewed courage. Yes, she had been rewarded. As she jumped in bed to read, she opened her book: The Story of Amy Carmichael.

Tuning My Instrument

It was Jesus’ very first day of public ministry. He entered the synagogue in Capernaum and taught - “and they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes” (Mark 1:22). There in the synagogue, He forced an unclean spirit to leave a man. The crowds were shocked at His power! Later that same day, Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law’s fever. Fame of Him spread so quickly that “that evening at sundown they brought to Him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And He healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons” (Mark 1:32-34). What a busy day! After such a full day, Jesus was very likely exhausted. However, the next day, Jesus rose very early, “while it was still dark,” and “departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed” (Mark 1:35). Even though Jesus had just finished a full day of serving God by teaching and healing, Jesus didn’t ‘take it easy’ the next day. He didn’t sleep in or start out late. No, he rose before everyone else and spent time with God.

It’s easy for Bible reading to be crowded out of our schedules. My family and I are reading the Bible chronologically this year (see link on the sidebar to the right!), and it’s easy to fall behind in the reading plan. If you’re like me, when you have an unexpectedly busy day, or when you just have a lot to do, Bible reading quickly gets moved aside. It’s easy for a day to pass without spending time reading the Bible.

Hudson Taylor said, "Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him.” I love that image! Taylor likens our daily life to a concert, and he encourages us to “tune our instrument” before the concert. No musician plays in a concert without making sure that their instruments play every note like they should. To tune an instrument, musicians play a correct note on another instrument or a tuner, then play the corresponding note on their instruments to make sure that they match. When the notes on the tuner match the notes on the instrument, the instrument is successfully tuned, and can play any song without sounding out of place. Likewise, we should spend time with God each day - and align our wills with His - before striving to live for Him throughout our daily routine.

The dictionary defines a “priority” as “something given or meriting attention before competing alternatives”. In other words, priorities are things that we give ‘first place’ to; priorities have our true devotion. Since we are Christians, communication with our Savior and Lord should be “top priority” for us. No matter what else is going on or how much we have to do, reading the Bible and prayer should be at the top of our list.

I’m still a little behind in my Bible reading plan, but I’m catching up (I’m closer than I was last week). Tomorrow I plan on rising early to tune my instrument. I’m looking forward to the concert.

I'm Gonna Let It Shine

Hallie prepared to speed down the street. She loved pedaling as fast as she could down the hilly street and then coasting as far as possible. Exhilarated, she took a deep breath and began to pedal. Suddenly, she realized that her brother Logan and his friends were crossing the street. “Look out, Logan!” Hallie yelled as she sped toward them. Logan and two of his friends stopped and waited, but another boy didn’t seem to hear Hallie’s warning. “Brandon, watch out!” Logan called. Frustrated, Hallie slammed back on the pedals and swerved to miss Brandon. So much for a joy ride. “Brandon, watch where you’re going!” Hallie scolded her brother’s friend and stormed back up the hill.

That night, Hallie and her family waited until it was dark and then gathered on the back porch. “Here it is!” Hallie’s dad said, referring to a large telescope.

“Cool!” said Logan. “I didn’t know it would be this big!”

“Yeah, we got the biggest we could - well, except for NASA’s,” Hallie’s dad proudly answered.

“Can I look?” Hallie asked, hardly able to wait any longer.

“Just a minute, Hallie,” her dad answered. “Let me get it set up and see what I can find.” Hallie watched her father adjust the telescope and point it in one direction. “Here you go, Hallie. What do you think?”

Hallie took the telescope and eagerly pressed her eye to the viewfinder. "Hmm...there’s a star, but it’s far away - I can’t see it very closely.”

“Turn it a little to the right,” her dad suggested.

“Wow!” Hallie exclaimed. “It’s the moon - and it’s really bright! I’ve never seen it so close up.”

“Let me see!” Logan begged. Hallie handed the viewfinder to her brother. He, too, was amazed. “That is really bright!” he echoed Hallie. “It’s almost as bright as the sun!”

“Actually,” Hallie’s dad said. “The moon isn’t bright at all.”

“What?!” Logan didn’t believe his dad.

“That doesn’t make sense, Dad - it’s the brightest thing out there,” Hallie agreed with her brother.

“Your dad is right,” Hallie’s mom said. “The moon doesn’t have any light of its own.”

“Well, where does it get its light? Aliens?” Logan suggested.

Hallie giggled. “Don’t be silly, Logan. Alien’s don’t exist!” Logan laughed when he saw his sister understood his joke.

“No, not aliens!” Hallie’s mom smiled, too. “The moon’s light is reflected from the sun.”

“Really?” Logan still wasn’t sure.

“That’s neat,” Hallie remarked. “I never knew that.”

“It’s a lot like the Christian life, actually,” Hallie’s dad said.

“HUH?” Now Logan was really confused.

“No, really, listen,” Hallie’s dad began. “As Christians, our purpose in life is to glorify God.”

“But what does that have to do with the moon?” Hallie was beginning to be confused, too.

“Yeah, and what does glorify mean?” Logan questioned.

“I’m glad you asked,” Hallie’s dad replied. “Does glorifying God mean to make Him great?” he asked Hallie and Logan.

“Nooooo,” Logan answered, but he was just guessing.

“No,” Hallie continued. “Because God already is great.”

“Right!” her dad answered.

“To glorify God is to help others see how great God is,” Hallie’s mom pointed out. “Like you said, God already is great, and by glorifying Him, we help others see His greatness. God’s greatness is already there, we just help others see it.”

“Okaaaay,” Hallie was confused.

Logan was lost, too. “And where does the moon come in?”

“Well, the moon doesn’t have any light of its own, so it reflects the light of the sun and gives us light during the dark of night. Hey, that rhymes!” Hallie’s dad joked.

“You’re a poet and you didn’t even know it,” Logan encouraged. Everyone laughed.

“And we don’t have any greatness of our own,” Hallie’s mom continued, “because everything we have comes from God. Matthew 5 says that we are the light of the world (Matt. 5:14). ‘In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven’” (Matt. 5:16).

“Oh, I get it!” Hallie understood. “We reflect God’s greatness so others can see it?”

“That’s right!” her mom answered.

“Uh, how does that work?” Logan was still confused.

“Well, let’s say that you have a friend that doesn’t know God.” Hallie’s dad began an illustration. “You’ve told him about Jesus, but he doesn’t seem to really care. You’re still friends with him, and you always act the way you know Jesus would act. You’re nice to him, you’re not a sore loser - you set a good example. Well, soon your friend realizes that you’re not like a lot of his other friends, and he wonders why you’re different. Now he’s ready to listen to you talk about Jesus.”

“I think I understand,” Logan said. “So if he knows that I know Jesus, and I act like Jesus, it’s like I’m shining God’s light on my friend?”

“That’s a good way to put it, son,” Hallie’s dad agreed.

“So,” Logan grinned, “the moon reflects the sun and we reflect the Son?” Logan is quite the clown, Hallie thought as she and her family chuckled at Logan’s joke.

The next day Hallie was again riding her bike and preparing to speed down the street. She looked up and noticed Brandon was out walking his family’s dog. I wonder if Brandon knows about Jesus, she thought as she began to pedal. Just as she was pedaling as fast as she could, Brandon’s dog jerked the leash from his hand and sped straight toward Hallie. Hallie slammed back on the pedals, stopping the bike quickly. Jumping off her bike, she grabbed the dog’s leash so he couldn’t run any farther. Smiling, she walked the dog back to Brandon. “Here’s your dog, Brandon. He’s fast!”

“Uh, thanks,” Brandon said, a little surprised at Hallie’s kindness.

“Brandon, I’m sorry for yelling at you the other day. It wasn’t nice of me to do that - I know that God wants me to treat everyone kindly. Will you forgive me?”

“Uh, s-sure,” Brandon stammered, still unsure of Hallie’s change in attitude.

“I see you walking your dog a lot,” Hallie continued the conversation. “Do you like dogs?”

“Yeah,” Brandon finally smiled. “I’m teaching him tricks, too, do you wanna see?”

“I’d love to!” Hallie answered, smiling to Brandon. She smiled on the inside, too, as she thought, “‘Let your light shine before others...’”