There was always something fun going on at that little one room school house Little John attended. He especially loved the wintertime. The big boys would carry in sticks of wood for the big potbellied stove that stood in the middle of the room. The teacher would, very carefully, start the fire with coal oil and when a nice warm blaze was going, all would settle down for their “book learnin’“ for the day.
There were no snow days back when Little John went to that one room school house. If you could get there, you went. Snow days now are determined a lot by whether the school buses can get there. Back in Little John’s time, there were no school buses; you walked. So, no matter how much snow accumulated, school was in session.
Recess was such fun on snow days. The teacher didn’t keep the kids in and allow them to watch videos or play games inside. Everyone, including the teacher, bundled up and out they went. Of course, the first thing the kids did was start a snow ball fight. Gathering up piles of snow and seeing who could accumulate the biggest pile before the fight started, each one worked feverishly stacking and occasionally throwing a snow ball at someone. Little John could hardly wait until he had enough to begin. So, the fight was on! Screaming and chasing each other everyone was having a great time; snowballs flying; splatting occasionally against the side of the school house but most usually against someone else.
Little John decided it would be great fun to hit his teacher with a snow ball. So, he picked up the biggest one he could find; packed it as hard as his little hands could pack, crept up behind his teacher very quietly and let fly with as much power as he could! SPPLLLAAATTTT! His snowball hit the back of the head hard and he knew he was in trouble. Little John’s teacher was at least 45 years older than Little John but she could run and the chase was on! Little John’s mistake was instead of running behind the school house or off into the woods to hide behind a tree, he ran into the school house and found himself blocked in the corner as his teacher headed toward him with the biggest snowball Little John had ever seen. There was no place to run; he was trapped. Closer and closer she came until she reached Little John.
“Okay, you’re in for it now, Little John! You are caught and nowhere to run!” She grabbed him by his coat collar and washed his face thoroughly and completely! Little John later said if you have never had your face washed with a snowball by your old teacher, you don’t know what you have missed!
What Little John did was all in fun and it wasn’t a sin to have a good time at recess. But, many times the things we do that we consider fun, are sinful things in God’s eyes. And, no matter how little or how big our sins may be, we all need God’s forgiveness for them.
The prophet Isaiah uses the picture of pure white snow to depict God’s cleansing work in our lives. Our sins are like crimson and yet when God cleanses us from our sin, we are then white as the new fallen snow.
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18 NIV
No comments:
Post a Comment