Storytime!

So, as promised, here is the "manuscript" for the children's story I did yesterday:

I was SO EXCITED! We were going to Canada! I had never been to Canada before and our whole family was going to be going. I had been looking forward to it for weeks. I told all of my friends about all the different places we were going to go and things we were going to see. And then the day finally came. I had all of my stuff packed up and was ready to go. The only thing that still needed to be done was to fill up the van with gas - then we would be on our way.

While my dad went to fill up the van, my grandpa watched my brother and me. We had just found a new climbing tree and we wanted our grandpa to watch us climb it. "Papa, papa," we called him. "Watch us climb this tree." My brother and I were very safety conscious (either that or we thought we looked cool with helmets on), so we put our helmets on and buckled them up nice and tight. Then I watched as Rob climbed the tree first. Higher and higher he went, climbing up into the tree, "Wow, that's cool," I thought to myself as I watched him. So, of course I wanted to show my grandpa my awesome climbing skills, and I started climbing. Now, the trick with this tree was that there was only one branch that could be reached from the ground, and this particular branch just so happened to be dead. I wasn't worried at all, though, because I had climbed the tree many times before. So I hoisted myself up on the branch. Then I brought my foot up and put it on the branch, and "SNAP!!" The branch which had held me so many times before broke! As I fell, I put my hand out to catch myself and "SNAP!!" As my arm hit the ground, it broke.

As soon as my dad got back, he rushed me to the hospital. The doctors put a cast on my arm and said that I couldn't travel until it healed. I wasn't going to be able to go to Canada! I was devastated. "Why? Why can't I go?" I cried. But you know what? A few months later, after my arm had healed, I did get to go to Canada. And that trip was even better than the other would have been because I got to go to the Canadian expo (a huge fair that has rides and food and all kinds of other attractions).

Moses was SO EXCITED! He was going to Canaan, the land promised by God! He had been looking forward to it for years. Moses and the children of Israel were getting very close to the Promised Land. Unfortunately, the children of Israel liked to complain a lot, and one day they all started complaining because they didn't have any water. "Why did you bring us all the way out of Egypt just to die of thirst in the desert?" they said to Moses. In response to the Israelites complaints, God spoke to Moses and told him to speak to a rock and then water would flow out of the rock for the Israelites.

Moses gathered all the children of Israel together to the rock, but, instead of speaking to the rock as God had commanded him, Moses started speaking angrily to the people. "Why do you always gripe and complain?" Moses said. "I brought you out of slavery to take you to the promised land and all you can do is whine!" and with that, "SNAP!!" Moses struck the rock with his staff.

Just as God had said, water did pour forth from the rock. However, because Moses had disobeyed God by striking the rock and taking credit for bringing the people out of Egypt, God told Moses that he would not be able to enter Canaan. Moses was devastated. "Why God? Why can't I enter with the people?" Moses cried. God never did let Moses enter the Promised Land, but you know what? After Moses died, God did something much better for Moses. God came down and rose Moses from the grave and took Moses to heaven to be with Him.

Things don't always turn out they way we think they should. In my case, I was not able to go to Canada because my arm was broken. In Moses's case, he was not able to enter the Promised Land because he messed up and disobeyed God. Sometimes we may even pray for something and the prayer may not be answered the way we think it should have been. But you know what? God always has a plan. In my case and in Moses's case, God's plan was even better than we could have foreseen. Sometimes the plan that God has is better and sometimes it's just different, but the important thing to remember is that it is always for our good.

So yeah, that was the story I told for Sabbath School (with many alterations of course due to the spontaneous nature of story telling). I felt pretty good about it - it seemed that at least the kids in the center of the front row were paying attention, so that's a start. In other news, there are some auditors here from the U.S. One of them just so happens to be Robin Willis who apparently grew up with my mom (whom she says "hi" to). Talk about a small world (especially in Adventist circles).