Ann and Mary were staying at Grandma’s house for the night. They were sleeping on the floor in the living room. All the shades were closed, and everything was very quiet.
Suddenly, Ann crept over to Mary and whispered in her ear, “Wake up, Mary! There’s a man on the porch! He’s walking around, and I’m scared!”
Mary quickly got up and they hugged each other, and then they prayed and asked the Lord Jesus to help them. They called Grandma to come and she came in quickly. Both girls excitedly told her their fear of a strange man on the porch.
“Did you look out the window?” Grandma asked. Going to the window, she opened the shade and looked out.
“Come and see who your visitor is,” Grandma said. “Don’t be afraid. It’s all right.”
The girls peeked out and looked right into the face of a javelina—a big one! In fact, there were three of them! Grandma hugged the girls and explained that javelinas were wild pigs and had long, hard hoofs like ordinary farm pigs. When these animals walked around, it did sound as if there were several pairs of shoes walking on the porch!
The javelinas were rather large, about the size of a big dog. They were busy eating a bag of birdseed that had been left on the porch. Soon the seed was all gone, and they wandered off into the night.
Grandma said to the girls, “Don’t be ashamed of being afraid tonight. It was a very scary thing on a dark, quiet night like this. When you called me after you prayed, you did the right thing. You didn’t yell or scream, and you didn’t run away or cry. You prayed and asked the Lord Jesus to help you, and then you wakened me to come. Hearing the sounds on the porch as you did, you were right to be concerned. You were also right in knowing you could trust Jesus to help you.”
Do you boys and girls ask the Lord Jesus to help you when you are scared or worried? He is always listening and promises to help you and guide you. Next time, talk to Him first, like Ann and Mary did.
ML-02/06/2011