Unrealistic Choice

by Anne Connue

The congregation at a little country church had just sung a few hymns. Now they watched as their well-beloved pastor stood up and took his customary place behind the pulpit.

After an opening prayer, the pastor announced, “For prayer meeting tonight I have a special treat for you. One of my dearest childhood friends is in the audience, and I want you to meet him. In fact, I’ve asked him to share something with you. I’ve encouraged him to say whatever is on his heart.”

The pastor sat down as an elderly man stepped forward and greeted the audience with a smile. “We all like stories,” he began, “and tonight I have a story for you that particularly touches my heart. It involves a father, his son, and the son’s young friend.”

The man’s eyes held a faraway look, as if he were seeing things that no one else could view.

In Touch

Casey and I near the end of the "Glacier Trail."

Dear Young Disciples,

Last summer, my husband and I took a wonderful hiking trip to Wyoming. Glorious—that’s the only word for those mountains, waterfalls, glaciers, and hot springs. Even though I’d seen much of it before, the scenery stunned and enraptured me.

Yet even while surrounded by natural wonders, I kept feeling drawn to the signs of life: green meadows decorated with flowers, chattering chipmunks, singing birds.

One evening at sunset, three elk trotted into the valley below. The two younger ones frolicked while the mother kept watch—and when she signaled, all three splashed across the river and bounded into the woods.

Those Juniors, Part 40: Story-Telling Stratagem, #4

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: Story-telling is one of the best ways to impress a lesson or point on others. There are many wholesome, true stories out there for all ages. When telling a story, there are certain things you must do: know your story, see it, adapt it, tell it, live it, feel it, and have a climax.

Now let us come back to the story of Jochebed and her baby boy, and let us demonstrate the color that can be added to the picture by probable conversation.

In a few short verses, Exodus 2:1–10, is given to us the outline of one of the greatest stories in the world. The facts, which we may not add to or take from, are: A baby boy was born to Amram and Jochebed.

He was hidden for three months.

Jochebed made an ark of bulrushes.

She placed him in it and laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.

Miriam was told to watch.

He was found by the princess.

Miriam called her mother for a nurse.

He was named Moses, and adopted by the princess.

Now let us mix our colors from life and its varied experiences, and see how we can make this outline pulsate with life.

The Hand That Never Lets Go

by Ellen White

The sun shone brilliantly on the dazzling snow of one of the highest mountains of the Alps. In those mountains, an English hiker followed his guide along a narrow path. The Englishman reveled in the beauty all around him. He trusted his guide and followed fearlessly in his footsteps, although the track was new to him. Suddenly he hesitated as the bold mountaineer stepped across a deep, narrow chasm. Then, holding out his hand, the guide asked the Englishman to step across. Still the traveler hesitated, but the guide encouraged him to follow. “Take my hand,” he reassured him. “This hand never lets go.”

Those Juniors, Part 39: Story-Telling Stratagem, #3

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: Story-telling is one of the best ways to impress a lesson or point on others. There are many wholesome, true stories out there for all ages. When telling a story, there are certain things you must do: know your story, see it, adapt it, tell it, live it, feel it, and have a climax.

Live Your Story—You can only tell with the power of conviction those things you have experienced. As pity is hollow and shallow and unwanted, because it is formed of only empty words, and as sympathy comforts, cheers, and encourages, because it is spoken by one who understands from experience, so the teller of stories must live life. He must know children; he must know mothers and fathers and people. He must know how they live, how they talk, how they love, how they hope, how they pray. He must drink the cup of sorrow and must understand loneliness, as well as the thrill of joy. He must know what it means to ascend to the mountaintop and to descend into the valley. If he would tell of the love of God he must know the love of God. If he would tell of the saving power of Christ he must know the saving power of Christ.

On a certain occasion a number of people were enjoying a social evening in the parlor of a beautiful home. Among the guests were a very talented actor and a venerable old clergyman. As guest after guest added to the entertainment of the evening, someone turned to the actor and said, “Won’t you please recite something for us?”

Unmistakable Beauty

I’d never seen this woman before, but when she walked into the sanctuary one Sabbath morning, right
away I knew I liked her. Silver hair gently framed her aging face, and her simple clothes had clearly seen better days. Even so, she radiated an unmistakable beauty. Her soft steps spoke of confidence and grace, and everything about her sparkled with warmth and friendliness. When I finally got a chance to speak with her, it seemed like we would never run out of things to talk about!

Their Treasure

by Margaret W. Eggleston

Art: Heidi Reinecke

“Are you ready, dear?” A woman’s anxious voice pierced the stillness of the little Armenian church.

A weary-eyed man smiled soberly at his wife, standing restlessly in the doorway. “Yes, darling, I am ready, except for—”

“Except for what?” The woman shifted a fat-cheeked baby onto her hip and glanced down at the wide-eyed toddler clutching her skirts. “The Turks could be here at any moment. They must not find the children. Hurry!”

The man picked up a large Bible. “It’s just that I feel I can’t go without this Book. It’s the greatest treasure in the village. How could I—the church deacon—leave it for enemy forces to destroy?”

“But look at it!” his wife sputtered. “How can we carry such a thing? It must weigh as much as a baby—or a week’s supply of grain.”

Those Juniors, Part 38: Story-Telling Stratagem, #2

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: Story-telling is one of the best ways to impress a lesson or point on others. There are many wholesome, true stories out there for all ages. When telling a story, there are certain things you must do: know your story, see it, adapt it, tell it, live it, feel it, and have a climax.

After you know your story, you must see it. Good storytellers do not memorize their stories. They build a picture of the story as they read it, and then simply tell what they see. This enables them to retell stories other people wrote in the first person—for of course it wouldn't do to recite a story written in the first person unless you were the actual writer!

In Touch

Dear Young Disciples,

I put down my anthropology textbook and sighed. The day was gorgeous, and I wanted to be outside, enjoying it.

Just then the phone in my dorm room rang. “We have some kites, and the wind is blowing just right,” my friend told me. “Come and join us!”

I hadn’t flown a kite in years. “Sounds like fun,” I answered. “I’ll be right down.”

My conscience started pricking me even before I hung up the phone. You have a big report to present tomorrow in anthropology class. You don’t have time for this.

Yawning Yet?

Try to read this without yawning!

Learn it young! Babies yawn even before they are born! Researchers say they yawn as early as 20 weeks old in the womb.

That’s fishy! We humans aren’t the only ones who yawn. You’ve probably seen cats and dogs yawn—but did you know that fish and birds also yawn?

Frequent activity. Yawns may be short, but over the course of years, they really add up. Some estimate that we yawn 240,000 times in a lifetime!

Those Juniors, Part 37: Story-Telling Stratagem #1

by Eric B. Hare

Last week: The use of illustrations that appeal to hand, eye, and ear are effective tools for a teacher, and will implant in the students minds not only the application, but also the lesson itself, causing them to remember it, at times, for their entire lives.

Story Sources.—The great books of God—the Bible and nature—form a vast, unlimited field where stories can be found on every hand. Life itself, with the hundreds of interesting experiences with people and children, is another boundless source of story material. When you see the results of obedience, of forgiveness, of faithfulness, jot them down, put down the names and the place, and file them away. When you can say, “One day when I was visiting Myat Po, the head teacher of our Karen school, I saw his little boy Solomon, who was only three years old, try to get his father a drink of water from a waterpot that was too high for him to reach,” it carries much more power and weight than if you have to say, “I was reading one time of a little three-year-old boy somewhere who tried to get his father a drink of water,” etc. Cultivate eyes to see and ears to hear the beautiful stories and illustrations that are being lived about you every day.

In Touch

Dear Young Disciples,

My friends and I had been canoeing for several days. The weather had been great—sunny and warm, hardly any rain, and not too much wind. But still, after hours and days of paddling out in the elements, we were getting tired.

That night as we ate supper, “Ian” vowed he was going to bed as soon as he’d washed his dishes. We laughed. He couldn’t be serious. The rest of us planned to take a walk to a massive waterfall close to camp. Who would miss that? Besides, it was only six o’clock, and hours from sundown!