Charlie, a boy of about twelve, usually kept out of trouble. He was raised in a Christian home where the Bible was read. He loved the Lord Jesus, and, in fact, he accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour when he was just six years old.
Charlie loved to play football and baseball with his school buddies. They often played the game of marbles in the schoolyard too. Boys did that many years ago, long before computers and video games were around. Where his family lived, the backyard of their house was right next to the schoolyard, so he often found his way there for some of the pickup games going on.
Another game the boys often played was handball. They played it up against the back wall of the school.
One afternoon in the summer, a few boys were playing handball, and Charlie was just standing by, watching. After the boys got tired of the game, some of them picked up stones and started throwing them at the school windows. And you know what happened next ... some of the windows got broken!
Charlie was standing back from the group, just watching what the boys were doing. But a
neighbor saw what was happening and phoned the police.
After they had broken some of the windows, the boys ran from the schoolyard, and Charlie went home. However, it wasn’t very long before a police car stopped at his house. Someone had reported that Charlie was with the boys who broke the windows. Now he was in big trouble!
Make no mistake; Charlie had not thrown even one stone. But he was with the boys who were throwing them! He had to learn a hard lesson that his dad and mom drilled into him, reminding him of the Bible verses in Proverbs 4:14-1514Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. 15Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. (Proverbs 4:14‑15): “Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.”
The big lesson that Charlie had to learn was to walk away from his friends who were doing things that he knew were wrong and go home. He should have gone home when the boys first started throwing stones at the school building.
Boys and girls, you probably can guess that Charlie has never forgotten that lesson, and he has never forgotten that verse either. It’s a good verse for each one of you to always remember and follow.
ML-03/27/2011