Little Jimmy is in trouble. Yup, that's "Little Johnny's" kid brother. Forget "what" the trouble is ..whether it's worse, or less worse, than last week. Jimmy and Johnny's dear sweet momma has had ENOUGH! She'd made the regular pilgrimage to the principal's office often enough when Johnny was Jimmy's age. She's gonna' head the troubles of kid-brother off at the pass. Nip it in the bud!!
So Jimmy's mom doesn't hesitate, nor is she caught off-guard. She had committed herself to marching Jimmy right down to their pastor's office ...upon the next occurrence of "trouble". And so she does.....
Bro. Bill Roberts, Jimmy's pastor, sure loves Jimmy, Johnny, and their family. Bill remembers his own wayward ways when he was about Jimmy's age. He can't help but giggle just a bit after Jimmy's mom herds her son into his office. He knew this was coming. She had spoken to him about "her boys" several times before. He also knew that it was serious business to Jimmy's mom. Bill wondered exactly how he would approach "getting in Jimmy's head" when the time came. Well, here they were.
"Jimmy, I've known you longer than you've known me. You're a neat kid with a great big heart. How come you're always gettin' into trouble at school?" Bill is not at all surprised by Jimmy's well thought out and analytical respone.
"I 'unno" ...Jimmy mumbles, slouched in a chair on Pastor Bill's screened-in back porch. He didn't want Jimmy to feel intimidated by "the pastor's office" ...so he decided they'd walk next door to the Roberts' home and get an ice-cream bar out of the freezer. The Mrs. kept plenty on-hand. This was Pastor Bill's secret addiction. So, Pastor Bill and Jimmy relax.
"This ain't gonna' be so bad." ...Jimmy thought to himself.
Pastor Bill was prepared for... "I 'unno". Heck, it was the same answer he had given on many occasions as a kid! Honestly, he had used the same response when Mrs. Roberts asked him about the trail of mud through their house last weekend! Determined to get to the root of why Jimmy seemingly finds "trouble" so attractive ....Bill pulls out the big guns. It's time to find out what Jimmy knows about the Lord.
"Jimmy... where is God?" ..Pastor Bill asks in a gentle tone, but a tone that expects a response ...as if the dead silence following didn't make that clear.
Jimmy's eyes roam the room. Is he looking for an answer ...or looking for the door?
With a little more stern-ness this time.... Jimmy... where...is...God??"
Jimmy's heart begins racing now.
This kid is tight as a drum! "Jimmy ....I want you to tell me where God is??"
Pastor Bill had no more than released the words from his lips before Jimmy nearly "leaped" for the screen-door, blew it open, hung a sharp left ...and made a bee-line (obstacles included) for "home" ...the safety of home!!
Blowing right through his own screen-door, blurring past his mom (who certainly didn't have an opportunity to glean, from Jimmy, how "the interview" went), and into the room he and big brother Johnny shared.
Every breath gained desperately, Jimmy slams the door shut, eyes bugged out, and glares at Johnny, relaxed on his bed reading a magazine. Johnny's a pro at this! He'll know what to do!!
"What in the world's wrong dude?? You look like you've seen an alien or somethin'!" ...Johnny smirks. He knew this look. He INVENTED this look! This was gonna' be kinda' fun.
"Johnny ...we're in big trouble!" ..Jimmy gasped. Notice how he included his big brother in his dilemma?
"God is missing ....and they think we did it!!!"
Has it ever occurred to you, that nothing ever occurs to God? He's never caught off-guard. Like Jeremiah... God has a plan for our lives ..even Jimmy's.
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." -Jeremiah 1:5
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." -Jeremiah 29:11-13
