Story Time… Are you ready?

 

Intro:  This is a story written for children and any child-like hearts who remember what it’s like to want to run away with your imagination into a fantasy world that isn’t anything like home. 

 

Question:  Have you ever participated in a never-ending story?  Well, here is your chance.  This story is not yet finished… not quite ended yet.  It is only just beginning, in fact!  So here’s your chance to participate!  If you would like to add to this story, then please email me at maryannnguyen@ucsd.edu.  It will be fun!!

 

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Once upon a time, there lived a little girl named Faith, who really loved the Lord – the Lord Jesus Christ, that is.  To her, there was no other.  She loved Him more than all her teddy bears and dolls and everything else, because she knew that He loved her more than life itself.  As a result of knowing this love, it was obvious to everyone around her that this little girl was different.  The way that she talked and moved and interacted with everyone was outstandingly different from all the other little girls and boys.  Her parents loved this about their daughter.  So they indulged her and let her continue to talk about God as well as talk to God all the time.  They brought her to the community church every Sunday with great devotion, but they never understood her way of loving Him or her way of knowing so well that He was always with her.  Since she was only ten, they thought that it was as much a part of her make-believe world as all her play-friends.  They guessed that she would grow out of her obsession with Jesus one day when she got older.

 

Faith lived in the countryside near a small town.  Most of us do not know very much about countrysides because we live in towns called suburbia where all the houses on one street look the same and are really, really close to each other.  Where we live, there are all sorts of dangers, so we can never walk around in the streets any time we want or trust any strangers.  But Faith lived in the countryside.  Burglars and other bad people were unheard of in those parts.  Houses were so far apart that you had to get on your bike, horse or your daddy’s car.  But cars were rare; you would barely ever see cars driving up and down.  And when you did, they drove slowly through those old streets, so you were never in any danger that someone would run you over.  There were no such things as strangers because everyone knew each other for miles and miles around.  Whenever something happened in one person's life, everyone else knew about it and rejoiced or mourned right along with them.  The countryside is very different from suburbia.

 

One of the great things about the countryside is that there's a lot of country to ramble around in.  Green grass, open fields, trees, streams and beautiful flowers for Faith to run through and enjoy.  And that was her favorite thing to do.  During the summer times, she would spend most of the day wandering around in the woods right near her house.  There, a lot of times, she would meet all sorts of creatures who wanted to play with her.

 

Today she ran off to the woods after breakfast to her favorite place by the stream just inside the woods.  She had never gone farther than the stream before.  But today she decided that it was time to explore what was beyond the stream.  But first, she had to get everything ready like her parents always made her do when they went on vacation.

 

“Okay, Lord, first we need to get some water to make sure we have enough for the long, long trip that we are going to take.”  She scooped some water into her pretend bottle which came out of her pretend backpack.  “Now we need to check to see if we have a map and a compass so that we don’t get lost.”  She rummaged through her backpack.  After awhile, she exclaimed, “Oh, that’s right.  I don’t need a map because I have You!  No wonder it’s not in here.  Lord, I’m so glad you know everything.”  Then she looked around her.  “Well, it looks like we’re ready to go.”

 

A branch cracked and some leaves crunched.  Faith looked up to see that her dear friend Diana, the deer, had come to visit her and say goodbye before her long trip.  “Hello, Diana!”  She said this softly so that Diana would not be afraid.  “You look beautiful today.  Where is our friend Doc?  How come he didn’t come with you?”  Diana gazed at Faith with her wide eyes.  “Oh, he’s off playing with everyone else?  Well, you should go too.  You don’t have to stay with me today by Stream.  I am going to go farther into the woods today.”  She stopped and listened for Diana to speak.  “Oh, no, it won’t be dangerous at all!  The Lord is with me, remember?  He keeps me safe and protects me.  How come you always forget?”  Diana turned her head to look deeper into the woods and then back at Faith.  “I know you just want to make sure, but I don’t have to be afraid because God is with me.”  After Faith said this, Diana skipped away into all the trees and bushes as if to say that she understood and agreed to what Faith was saying. 

 

So then Faith got up from the rock she had been sitting on and started going the way Diana went.  “Wait for me, Diana!  I want to go too!”  she said. 

 

Aug 5, 2000 – Mary Ann Nguyen J