Ripples

by Jim Payton

It also tells you how not to steal, how to plan your life so you’re not alone, how to be loved by others, and best of all, how to love them back.”

  And do you know what? Joe found out that when he was angry he only had to read Ephesians 4: 26 to 32, when afraid, Romans 8: 31 to 39, and when lonely, Psalm 91. He also found out that God did love him. When he found that out, he changed, and people suddenly started to love him back.

  Story 9 Lucy and Mary

  The leaf of the pansy looked lovely to Lucy the Ladybird as she flew over it. The pansy flower shaded a part of the leaf so Lucy landed on it, folded her red wings with the black dots, and crept into the shadow from the flower. Nobody could see her crying. Her tears were big, for a ladybird, and fell onto the leaf in big wet patches. Her sobs were very loud for a ladybird. They were so loud that Mary the Monarch butterfly could hear them as she flew past. She turned around and landed on the pansy flower.

  “What’s wrong Lucy?” she asked.

  “Nothing,’ sobbed Lucy. “Just leave me alone.”

  “I’m your friend Lucy,” said Mary. “I want to help you. Friends love each other. Tell me what’s wrong and let’s see if we can do something to make you feel better.”

  “It’s Samantha,” said Lucy. “She’s being mean to me. She’s saying awful things about me and won’t let me be picked in the plant eating competition.”

  “Ah,” said Mary. “Samantha the slug! Yes, she’s not very nice is she? Mind you, she’s not very nice to any one really. She used to say things about me also.”

  “Why doesn’t she do that now?” asked Lucy.

  “Because I became her friend,” explained Mary. “She used to call me all sorts of names because of the colour of my clothes. Really she was just jealous. It will be the same with you. When others do not like you, it is usually because they are jealous. You look lovely in your red coat with black spots on it and I’m afraid poor Samantha looks pretty plain.”

  “So if I become her friend will she stop being awful to me?” asked Lucy.

  “Not straight away, and maybe never,” said Mary. “Just say hello to her and don’t say anything bad about her and in the end she won’t be able to help herself and will start being nice to you. If she doesn’t, then don’t worry, there are plenty of others in this world.”

  “But they’ve all got their own friends,” protested Lucy.

  “Yes but every-one needs as many friends as they can get. Remember that to have a friend you have to be a friend. That is the big thing. To be a friend you need to show love to that person. Be nice to people every-time you can, say hello to them, offer to help them, and soon you’ll have more friends than you’ll know what to do with.”

  “Okay,” said Lucy wiping her eyes with her feelers. “I’ll try.”

  “Remember Jesus,” said Mary. “He had a lot of friends but he had enemies who hated him. He was always nice to them even when they were being mean to him. In that book that humans read, called the Bible, it says in Matthew Chapter 5, verse 44 that you are to love your enemies. That is what you will be doing if you become friends with Samantha. Never forget that you always have your invisible friend Jesus. He is always beside you wanting to hold you and love you. You can always talk to him.”

  Story 10 Meeting Jesus

  Once upon a time, a young girl went to Sunday school every single Sunday. She loved hearing about Jesus and was sad when the school holidays arrived because at her Church it meant no Sunday school. The thing was, though, that she had never met Jesus. Her teacher told her all about him, his father God, and about his relatives and friends, but she never met Jesus. All she had of Jesus were some pictures hanging on the Sunday school wall and some in one of Mum and Dad’s old bibles.

  One day, at Sunday school, her teacher told her the story of the Good Samaritan. You will remember that is when people walked past an injured man and did not help him. The only person to help him was an enemy. If you do not know the story, ask Mum or Dad to read it to you. She thought it was a nice story told by Jesus, but only liked it because Jesus had told it. She thought it would have been better if Jesus had been the hero and he had saved the man.

  The next day, at lunchtime, she took her sandwiches outside to eat. Sitting at another bench was a young boy who had nothing to eat. She had seen him many times before and did not like him much. Actually, she did not like him at all. His clothes were dirty, he did not have any shoes, he had nits in his hair and he wiped his nose on his sleeve. She noticed that all of her friends, and the other children, all kept away from him. Suddenly, for some unknown reason, the story of the Good Samaritan popped into her head. She realized that the boy was similar to the injured man in that story. She took two of her sandwiches and gave them to the boy. He ignored her and the sandwiches. She was tempted to take them back, or even throw them into the rubbish. She did not, but walked away. She looked back to find him still looking at her. Later she saw that the sandwiches had gone and she saw a smear of jam on the boy’s lips so knew he had eaten them. It gave her a good feeling. Actually, it made her feel nice. She was sad that he had not said thank you, but that did not change the feeling inside her. Actually, it even seemed to make her feel better that she had done something that was good but for which she received no thanks.

  It was at that stage, she realized, she had finally met Jesus. He was no longer a picture on the wall or in a bible. He was the happy feeling inside her, he was she, and he was also the boy.

  Story 11 Sam the Samaritan

  Sam was a Samaritan. It was short for Samuel, a good name in Bible times. Samaritans lived in Samaria, an area between Judea and Galilee. You can look it up on one of those maps in the older Bibles. They worshipped God but did so differently from the way Jews did. Jesus was a Jew. The Jews and the Samaritans generally did not have anything to do with each other. Jews barred the Samaritans from helping to rebuild Jerusalem. They lived according to the first five books of what is now the Old Testament part of our Bibles. Not only was Sam a Samaritan, but he was also a leper. A leper was a person who had a sickness called leprosy, which made sores appear all over their body. They also had no feeling in their bodies so that they did not know when they hurt themselves. It started with flaky skin and then your hair would turn white and sores would appear. You did not get leprosy by touching other people, but people were scared of it, and called people with it unclean. That meant that they were not able to go to worship God in their Synagogues or Churches, and they had to live with other lepers. They could not live with their Mums, Dads, brothers, sisters or any one else. When they moved about they had to shout aloud, “Unclean, unclean,” so people would know they were lepers and could keep away from them. They became sad and lonely. Sometimes the leprosy would disappear. If that happened, the cured leper would have to go to a Priest for an inspection, and then, after making certain sacrifices, ordered by the Priest, the person would be able to go back to a normal life.

  As a leper, Sam was living with a group of nine other lepers. As if having leprosy was not bad enough, those he lived with were Jews and made life even more difficult for Sam. The group had heard of a Jewish person called Jesus. They had heard he had a power that let him heal sick people. People said Jesus had healed a woman who for fourteen years had walked bent over. Now she was able to walk upright. They heard Jesus healed a boy with epilepsy. Also, apparently, Jesus had fed five thousand people using only two fish and five loaves. He had also returned a dead person to life. They had talked among themselves about whether or not Jesus would be able to cure them of leprosy. They talked about what they would do if healed. They all agreed that the one thing they would do was thank Jesus, and pray to his God forever, if he ever healed them.

  One day they were sitting outside their local town begging for money and food when they heard a great deal of noise coming along the road. People ran into the village saying, “Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming. You know him. The one who heals people; the one people say is the Son of God, our King.” Sam and his friends b
ecame very excited. This would be their chance. They ran towards the road shouting “unclean, unclean.” People gave them a wide berth. Some shouted at them to “go away” but Sam and his friends were determined.

  “Jesus, Master, have pity on us,” Sam shouted. Jesus did not seem to hear. The noise of the crowd was too great. He was talking to his apostles and his hands were emphasizing points with their movements. “Jesus, Master, have pity on us,” Sam shouted again. To himself Sam said, “Please, please make him see us. Make him notice us. Please, the God of Jesus, make him see us.” Suddenly Jesus looked across to where Sam and his friends were standing. Sam felt a sudden excitement. Everything went quiet. Sam saw an ordinary man looking at him but there was something different about him. He just seemed somehow different. “Jesus, Master,” said Sam in a voice that sounded loud in the silence. “Have pity on us.” Jesus raised his hand and pointed to Sam and his friends.

  “Go and show yourselves to the Priests,” he said. He then lowered his hand and continued to walk on, talking to those around him. The noise resumed. Sam, and his friends, looked at each other. They also started to walk, keeping pace with Jesus as he approached