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September 2000

Kids’ Page
 

Something for Nothing
 

by Mrs. Anne Groenenboom
 

Chris didn’t know what woke him up. He looked at his clock, but it was only just after two o’clock. He turned over and tried to go back to sleep, but as he settled down, he heard a strange noise next door and he suddenly remembered that the Jacksons were away. Without putting his light on, he sat up and pulled the edge of his curtain carefully back from his window, which overlooked the house next door. His mouth went dry and his heart started thumping as he saw a beam of light moving about in the Jackson’s family room. He could also see the top of a dark-coloured van in the driveway and he knew it certainly didn’t belong to the Jacksons. Something was definitely wrong! It was only a few weeks since there had been burglars at his place and now the Jacksons were being burgled. With knees trembling, Chris crept down the hallway in the dark to wake his father.

As soon as Dad heard what Chris had to say, he phoned the police. Chris stood at the window in his parents’ bedroom, shivering as he watched for the police. They seemed to take ages and he was afraid the burglars would leave before the police arrived. Finally the police car came silently up the street and Chris began to shake even more as he watched the police going toward the house next door. By this time, Mum and Dad were watching out the window too and it wasn’t long before they saw the police leading two men back to their car. Next, one of the police officers came in to get a statement from Chris about what he had seen and he also thanked Chris for being so helpful.

It was almost four o’clock when Chris finally got back into bed and he was sure he wouldn’t be able to sleep one wink after all the excitement. He knew that Amy would be disappointed that she had missed out on all the fun. He finally drifted off to sleep and slept soundly until Mum came to tell him it was time to get up. Chris was so busy telling Amy about what happened during the night that Mum had to keep reminding him to eat his breakfast. “Chris, you’ll miss the bus, if you don’t stop talking!” she told him.

Chris ate the rest of his breakfast very quickly. He was itching to get to school to tell everyone, so the last thing he wanted to do was miss the bus.

That afternoon, when Chris and Amy came home from school, Chris was still talking about his big adventure and Amy was getting tired of hearing about it.

“I’m sick of hearing about Chris!” she complained. “Everyone at school says he’s a hero, but anyone could have done what he did. It’s not fair!”

“You should be glad your brother did something good,” Mum gave Amy a warning look. “If you’d been the one to discover the burglars, you’d be talking about it, too. You’re just jealous because you slept right through everything!”

Amy looked embarrassed because she knew that what Mum said was true.

She gave Chris an apologetic grin.

“Did either of you look in the letter box when you came home?” Mum asked and both children shook their heads. Amy, anxious to make amends for being mean to Chris, went to get the mail. She came racing back into the house, greatly excited, waving a brightly coloured envelope.

“Mum! There’s a letter here for you and it says on the envelope that you’ve won $250,000 dollars!” she squealed.

Mum took the letter and read what was written on the envelope.

“It’s only one of those letters asking me to buy or sell something and I certainly won’t be doing that,” she said.

“But, Mum, we never seem to have enough money to buy anything except the things we really need,” Chris exclaimed. “We could even buy a new car. Ours is so old and it’s always breaking down!”

“You shouldn’t exaggerate, Chris. There’s nothing wrong with our car. It may not be new, but it still goes well,” Mum stated. “We’ll talk about this when your father comes home from work. Meanwhile, you two can do your homework.”

As soon as Dad came home, the children raced to tell him about Mum’s letter. He grinned at Mum as Chris and Amy listed all the great things they’d be able to buy with such a huge amount of money.

“Hold on a minute, you two!” he told them. “There’s no need to get excited, because we’re not going to get any money.”

“But the envelope says that Mum’s already a winner!” Chris argued. “If someone wants to give her $250 000 why can’t she take it?”

“I don’t think it’s as simple as that, Chris,” Dad replied. “I’m sure that if we read the letter, there’ll probably be raffle tickets to sell or we’ll have to buy something we don’t want. There’s always a catch with these letters.”

“But what’s wrong with raffles? My friend Darren won a mountain bike in a raffle.”

“Lots of people want something for next to nothing and that’s what you get if you win a raffle,” Mum told him. “God’s Word tells us to be content with what we have. We have to trust God to provide us with the things we need. We also need to remember that there’s a big difference between “wants” and “needs” because everything on your list was a “want” and not really things that we need.”

“But we need a new car!” Chris stated emphatically. “The Jacksons have had two new cars since they’ve been living next to us and they haven’t been there that long!”

“That’s only because Mr Jackson gets a car from his work, Chris,” Dad explained.

“But we never get anything new!” Chris argued. “All the kids in my class get heaps of new things, but we never get anything!”

“You’re exaggerating again Chris.” Mum reminded him. “Some of your classmates probably get extra things because their parents can’t spend as much time with them as we spend with you. Don’t forget that different families have different priorities.” “That’s right, Chris,” Dad continued. “Some families have both parents going to work and they can probably afford to buy more things, but they usually can’t spend as much time together.”

Chris thought for a minute. “I guess I’d rather have us doing things together at the weekend and going on family holidays and things like that. Some of the kids in my class never go anywhere with the whole family and I’d hate that!”

Amy nodded thoughtfully. She had friends whose parents were too busy to spend time with them too.

“It’s a real blessing that we can spend so much time together,” Dad told Chris and Amy. “Lots of parents would love to spend more time with their families, the way we do, but for one reason or another, they aren’t able to. They just have to work out what’s necessary for their own situation.”

“Just remember that God gives us all the things we need and far more, every day,” Mum reminded them. “We shouldn’t be worried because we don’t have all the things that some other people have. We have plenty and we even have enough to share with others. That’s all that matters.”

“Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting things that belong to others,” Dad told the children. The bible tells us to be satisfied with what we have, but lots of people aren’t satisfied, they just want more and more for themselves.”

“That’s what the burglars were doing, trying to get things that didn’t belong to them,” Chris commented.

“Why don’t we say a prayer to thank God for being so good to us?” Amy asked and Dad nodded. The family bowed their heads as Dad prayed:
“Lord we thank you for giving us everything we need for living and far more each day, but most of all we thank you for giving us what we need for eternal life. We thank you for giving us Jesus. Amen.”

A NOTE FOR PARENTS.

As you read this story with your children, no doubt many issues will come up for discussion. It’s important to discuss these matters with a real sensitivity for the needs of other families, rather than developing a spirit of criticism within your children. May the Lord grant you wisdom and discernment as you nurture your children in the reality of the truth of God’s Word.
 

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